Trump's Final 100 days

Quote: Boz

Because you are implying he is an idiot conservative, incapable of understanding it, correct? A thinly veiled insult from the superior mind of a liberal.

No, because he constantly rails against the "lamestream" media and seems to actually believe all the nonsense that comes out of Donald's big mouth.

And thank you for saying my mind is superior. Appreciate the compliment.

Quote: tringlomane

Ok is this an insult now?

But will you live? I sincerely hope AZ’s insults don’t change your life. No one should have to go through what you are currently dealing with. I do believe you are strong enough to survive this and still believe in the good in mankind.

If I say something that isn't insulting, yet someone claims to be insulted, must I apologize? Or can I make the case for why my post isn't an insult? Even if TWO OUT OF TWO admins who saw it agree it isn't an insult?


In the misc. discussion thread (the part about basketball and how awful it is), BBB mentioned something about it being a slam dunk contest amongst a bunch of thugs. At least two members called her out on it, perhaps more. Instead of apologizing, she explained her reasoning for what she said. Granted, I don't think BBB did anything wrong in that situation (although, "thug" is probably not the best word to use when referring to a group of mostly black people, but I don't really care), but it's similar to what happened in this thread, yet with two different outcomes.


I asked in another thread, several times without a legitimate response from an admin, if asking a question is an insult. Like, "Are you a <insult here>?" When I asked if "Are you stupid?" is an insult, the response I was given was something along the lines of, "Yes, I'm stupid....", from Mission, IIRC.

Quote: ams288

Literally none of it has been disproven.

But I wouldn't expect you to know that.

Sigh. Offsetting penalty. Personal insult. 3 days.

Quote: RS

I asked in another thread, several times without a legitimate response from an admin, if asking a question is an insult. Like, "Are you a <insult here>?" When I asked if "Are you stupid?" is an insult, the response I was given was something along the lines of, "Yes, I'm stupid....", from Mission, IIRC.

Something like that would certainly be an insult if the person to whom it was directed took it as one. I clearly did not, mainly because I am fairly stupid.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Sigh. Offsetting penalty. Personal insult. 3 days.

Offsetting penalties are not enforced. Let them both come back ;)

Quote: RogerKint

Offsetting penalties are not enforced. Let them both come back ;)

Yeah, except two wrongs don't make a right. Although 3 rights make a left. :)

Insult answered by insult makes 2 insults, not none.

You're right about my using that term, though I was thinking hockey, where they both go to the penalty box, rather than football, where they cancel each other out.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Sigh. Offsetting penalty. Personal insult. 3 days.

I will happily take 3 days as an offset anytime you’d like to ban a red cap ;)

Just so things are equal and all.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Yeah, except two wrongs don't make a right. Although 3 rights make a left. :)

Insult answered by insult makes 2 insults, not none.

You're right about my using that term, though I was thinking hockey, where they both go to the penalty box, rather than football, where they cancel each other out.

Gosh, I just looked in, wondering if there was anything new posted today. Wow.

Is it possible, or likely, that any of the people offended by the "beating your wife" comment had never heard it used before, because they might be from somewhere else or English a second language? I could see how with someone not from this country it might go over their head. Maybe it's just something you have to be an American for to understand it the first time hearing it. Gosh, I've heard it used a gazillion times and it was never used as a literal insult. But I'm old.

I think this whole thing could be just an innocent misunderstanding. And as for Ams288, he's kinda harmless in my opinion.

Quote: bobbartop

Gosh, I just looked in, wondering if there was anything new posted today. Wow.

Is it possible, or likely, that any of the people offended by the "beating your wife" comment had never heard it used before, because they might be from somewhere else or English a second language? I could see how with someone not from this country it might go over their head. Maybe it's just something you have to be an American for to understand it the first time hearing it. Gosh, I've heard it used a gazillion times and it was never used as a literal insult. But I'm old.

I think this whole thing could be just an innocent misunderstanding. And as for Ams288, he's kinda harmless in my opinion.

It's possible they weren't even offended or felt insulted, but pretended to be offended. Sort'a like in soccer or basketball where a player overreacts trying to get a foul called against the opposing team.

Quote: RS

It's possible they weren't even offended or felt insulted, but pretended to be offended. Sort'a like in soccer or basketball where a player overreacts trying to get a foul called against the opposing team.

lol Maybe I get bluffed too easy.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Thanks for the support. I really didn't want to drop the banhammer, but I felt backed into a corner, as I explained above.

Sorry if you felt that way. Yes, I thought it was insulting. And probably would have quit the forum if nothing was done. I quit posting trip reports here years ago partly because of a garbage comment EvenBob got away with. AZDuffman could have called my initial question out as a "loaded question" from the get go or even write "Do you still beat your wife?" in quotes to better signify his apparent intent.

And when my initial response is significantly angry and confused over it, his initial response is simply, "Confusing you with nobody, why?"

When other people are confused, people should try to explain themselves better, not throw up a statement just as cryptic as the first.

Quote: bobbartop

Gosh, I just looked in, wondering if there was anything new posted today. Wow.

Is it possible, or likely, that any of the people offended by the "beating your wife" comment had never heard it used before, because they might be from somewhere else or English a second language? I could see how with someone not from this country it might go over their head. Maybe it's just something you have to be an American for to understand it the first time hearing it. Gosh, I've heard it used a gazillion times and it was never used as a literal insult. But I'm old.

I think this whole thing could be just an innocent misunderstanding. And as for Ams288, he's kinda harmless in my opinion.

I'm American. Maybe I've heard it once in my life, but not enough to say, "Oh, I know exactly what he meant by that! It's so clear!"

Quote: tringlomane

Sorry if you felt that way. Yes, I thought it was insulting. And probably would have quit the forum if nothing was done. I quit posting trip reports here years ago partly because of a garbage comment EvenBob got away with. AZDuffman could have called my initial question out as a "loaded question" from the get go or even write "Do you still beat your wife?" in quotes to better signify his apparent intent.

And when my initial response is significantly angry and confused over it, his initial response is simply, "Confusing you with nobody, why?"

When other people are confused, people should try to explain themselves better, not throw up a statement just as cryptic as the first.



I'm American. Maybe I've heard it once in my life, but not enough to say, "Oh, I know exactly what he meant by that! It's so clear!"

It's all good. Just a difficult situation. I'll let what I already wrote stand, rather than commenting further.

Quote: tringlomane

I quit posting trip reports here years ago partly because of a garbage comment EvenBob got away with.

You stopped doing something you enjoy cause some random on the internet posted a negative comment? ...dude.

All these complaints would have merit if there was no block or ignore button.

Quote: tringlomane

I'm American. Maybe I've heard it once in my life, but not enough to say, "Oh, I know exactly what he meant by that! It's so clear!"

Ok. Sorry.

Quote: RogerKint

You stopped doing something you enjoy cause some random on the internet posted a negative comment? ...dude.

All these complaints would have merit if there was no block or ignore button.

I like reading good trip reports, but they need to have some good pictures of jackpots they hit or something interesting about the paytable or something like that. And not a bunch of pictures of food. Geez, I've seen plenty of food before.

We had a ban hammer party, and I missed it.

That is, I missed the action, not missed getting the hammer.

I can't remember the context, but I swear someone just the other day use the slight variation of this. It could have been on a different forum. They said, "when did you stop beating your wife"

The proper response should be. "Who said I stopped?" (-;

At least no one accused the other of being racist. Kind of hard to get motivated to participate here anymore with bans so easy to come by.

Quote: AxelWolf

I can't remember the context, but I swear someone just the other day use the slight variation of this. It could have been on a different forum. They said, "when did you stop beating your wife"

The proper response should be. "Who said I stopped?" (-;

You have to stop once in awhile so you can beat some dead horses.

Quote: RogerKint

You stopped doing something you enjoy cause some random on the internet posted a negative comment? ...dude.

It wasn't solely Bob, the lukewarm response by others the last time I posted one drove me away too. Because arguing over whether Drudge is gay on pages 390 to 392 of the Election 2016 Thread was generally more exciting to the forum at the time. I assumed the forum would be bickering over Obama over that time frame, but I was mistaken. Lol

I got a response from six unique members, one of whom I met in person, on that trip. And because the format of this forum is different for pictures than any other forum I have ever posted at (dunno what JB was thinking there.. :(), it takes awhile to reformat while the other forums I can basically just copy/paste. So I questioned if it was worth it from that point on. I still post reports on the other 3 forums (five more of them in total) where I spend the rest of my time at. I still need to add the last one to videopoker.com, maybe tomorrow.

Quote: bobbartop

I like reading good trip reports, but they need to have some good pictures of jackpots they hit or something interesting about the paytable or something like that.  And not a bunch of pictures of food.  Geez, I've seen plenty of food before.

The food pictures is what I usually forget to add in mine. I start to eat it first before saying, "hey, let me take a picture of it!"  And not like I eat terribly fancy in Vegas anyway.

Sorry to hear you are not posting your reports here any more, Tring. I appreciated them even if I didn't respond. (I should probably respond more to posts I like.) I get that the lack of responses is discouraging. My last report drew only 3 comments, but there were over 200 views. So, I figure more people than just those 3 appreciated it. I'll still post reports, assuming the trips are interesting.

Hopefully you can reconsider posting here. I miss the stories, VP wins, and beer pr0n!

Quote: Maverick17

The EC was set up to protect those living in areas with more land than people vs areas with more people than land.

Especially 230 years ago, when travel was not only time consuming, but physically difficult, the EC was vital to the success of the Union.

100% agreed.

Quote:

Today is is as important for the opposite reason. Information is available in moments, from multiple outlets, travel is faster, and much more comfortable. If the election for POTUS was a simple popular vote, it would stand to reason the biggest populations by density would be given the most time despite the modern travel conveniences, and those areas where people don't live on top of each other would be forgotten about. The EC keeps a value to each voter individually, even though I see a couple pages back you seem to think the exact opposite.

It's a similar reason each state only has 2 senators, but can have 1 to 53 representatives, it may not be "perfect" but it is the fairest way possible.

I think the exact opposite because the modern means of communication which even includes more efficient mail, are such that you can reach out to people without physically going to them.

Besides that, if the current demographics (in terms of voters) continue to play out similarly, Republican candidates would still do better to focus on rural or semi-rural areas, because that’s where a great percentage of their voters are.

Like I mentioned before, I think what is most important is not to have entire states (most of them, in fact) essentially ignored. They’re ignored in visits, they’re ignored on TV and they probably don’t get as much attention in other ways.

Why? Because they don’t matter. CA, NY, NH, GA, SC, MT...locks, all of them. And many more.

So, I think that if we’re going to reach millions more people by having the candidates hit most, if not all, of the states in the Continental U.S., the sacrifice of a couple hundred thousand country bumpkins in swing states is worth it.

People wonder why our election turnouts are so poor and many not involved in the political process. There you go. The highest office in the land is decided by most states years in advance.

Who’s going to win California in 2020? I’ve got $500 on the Democrat, whoever it is, anyone want my action?

Quote: bobbartop

Gosh, I just looked in, wondering if there was anything new posted today. Wow.

Is it possible, or likely, that any of the people offended by the "beating your wife" comment had never heard it used before, because they might be from somewhere else or English a second language? I could see how with someone not from this country it might go over their head. Maybe it's just something you have to be an American for to understand it the first time hearing it. Gosh, I've heard it used a gazillion times and it was never used as a literal insult. But I'm old.

I think this whole thing could be just an innocent misunderstanding. And as for Ams288, he's kinda harmless in my opinion.

America is just too large and diverse to assume everything is the same or understood everywhere. I personally never heard that term and saw it as an insult until explained later. However if someone is familiar with that term they may not recognize it as an insult. The poster had a chance to explain it but didnt

Here is an example of how things can be different in parts of the country

In NYC when ordering fast food the question asked is "this to stay or to go"

In other parts of the country its "is this for here or to go"

So when first visiting California i said i wanted my food to stay. The woman started packing it to go. Im like "miss i want it to stay" she looked confused and uncertain what i was talking about. As if i was speaking a foreign language

My friend who was with me pointed out she is trained to listen to the word "to" or "for". If she hears "to" as in "to go" she starts packing the bag. If she hears "for" as in "for here" she starts putting it on a tray. And i was confusing her by saying its "to stay"

Lots said. Lots to say.

On the Electoral College, democracies can use any system to determine its leader. The United States went to an Electoral College, and decided to have a senate with 2 senators from each state, with the VP being the tie breaker, and a congress which leans GOP because they've gerrymandered more successfully.

I don't believe a popular vote would accomplish anything due to the representation arguments that AZ gave, which I thought was well said. As well, should a state like NY or FL be hit by a major storm, it reduces voter turnout and skews the popular vote. I like the idea of battleground states. The EV system doesn't stop any state from going to a proportional representation like NE and ME have gone to. So, if you want the EV abolished, put in on every state's agenda, and what you will get is a modified EV system where a GOP state like MI may split its vote 9-7 while California might split its vote 33-22. That might be a bit better and accomplish everyone's needs, and have rounding go the winner (so a state like MI where it's almost deadlock would award an EV to the winner).

----
On the State of the Union, it was a fine speech, but had the lowest positive numbers since CNN started taking polls, so there. Americans are just happy he can read from a teleprompter and would probably appreciate him speaking like that at least some of the time rather than twice a year.

---
On immigration, America needs immigrants just to fill employment demand. There is no doubt that the economy is humming, and like it or not, corporate tax cuts will just add to that demand on employment, and that is for all kinds of job.

Being in the country unlawfully (an "illegal" immigrant) is not a crime, in that you are not violating criminal code and you don't have a criminal record if caught. This is why law enforcement doesn't arrest people for being here unlawfully. It's a federal matter and civil law. ICE is responsible for detaining and removing unlawful immigrants.

That said, the 'lottery' is a way for large people to bring over a sampling of people from around the world. They are adequately vetted. The only people who are not adequately vetted are people who sneak into the country or people who are here on short term visas (visitors, temporary employment, education). People who have committed recent acts of terror here were radicalized well after they got here.

As for the chain migration where people wait 10-24 years and then can bring over F4s (non-immediate family members like sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers), it's such a small number that it doesn't matter and frankly, I don't care if it goes.

DACA is being held up because Trump sees it as his only near-term opportunity to get his border wall funded, which is fine. He made a promise, and people voted on that promise, and I don't see a problem except that it's a symbolic waste of money. It will not stop drugs and will only stop the poorest people who have no other means of travelling from getting over the border. Politics is politics, and Trump will play that game, as every president has.
--------------------

On AZ's ban, I've never heard that phrase uttered before, but there are a lot of Canadian insults that I could hurl which might get me banned, too. Inappropriate, and AZ knew it when he tossed it out there, IMO.

--------------------

Trump is now into his second year, and we are now well into the Trump era. It's hypocritical at this point to not give Trump any credit for America's economic growth and low unemployment numbers (though he claims they were lies all through Obama's presidency). The tax reform package will have an effect, in what direction, who knows. America is not in a vacuum however. Other stock markets performed better last year. Other economies grew faster last year. It's not the only measure of economic well being.

America's enormous debt (which the tax reform plan exacerbates and was irresponsible for that reason alone) is an iceberg. With interest rates on the rise, the expense of maintaining that debt (266 billion on 14.7 trillion of public debt last FY) will take much larger chunks of the pie in the latter half of Trump's term. This was also a problem that Obama did not take care of due to the GOP pledge of no tax hikes.

Quote: darkoz

America is just too large and diverse to assume everything is the same or understood everywhere. I personally never heard that term and saw it as an insult until explained later. However if someone is familiar with that term they may not recognize it as an insult. The poster had a chance to explain it but didnt

I never heard the term before posed as a question.
Grew up in Baltimore
To me, domestic violence is a terrible problem in this country
Its one of the most dangerous situations for police to deal with
Many officers die due to domestic violence conflicts
To me, domestic violence is no joking matter
To me, inferring that somebody is inflictling domestic violence is a terrible slur

Quote: boymimbo

I don't believe a popular vote would accomplish anything due to the representation arguments that AZ gave, which I thought was well said. As well, should a state like NY or FL be hit by a major storm, it reduces voter turnout and skews the popular vote. I like the idea of battleground states. The EV system doesn't stop any state from going to a proportional representation like NE and ME have gone to. So, if you want the EV abolished, put in on every state's agenda, and what you will get is a modified EV system where a GOP state like MI may split its vote 9-7 while California might split its vote 33-22. That might be a bit better and accomplish everyone's needs, and have rounding go the winner (so a state like MI where it's almost deadlock would award an EV to the winner).

I would be fine with that suggestion, proportional distribution of Electoral Votes based on percentage of the popular vote by state. It seems like a decent compromise that would make almost all states at least somewhat competitive. I would think almost every state would have one EC vote that could swing one way or another based on the vote.

I don't have much to add to the remainder of your post, very well said.

Quote: Mission146

I would be fine with that suggestion, proportional distribution of Electoral Votes based on percentage of the popular vote by state. It seems like a decent compromise that would make almost all states at least somewhat competitive.

States can do that if they wish, but the reason most of them went 'winner take all' is the same reason people are using to say a direct vote would be bad - it makes the candidates want to go to the smaller, more contested states, since it won't be a matter of only winning say 2 out of 5 if the don't campaign or 3 out of 5 if they do campaign, it would be winning 0 out of 5, or 5 out of 5.

Just read the memo. What a nothing burger that was.

Moving on...

Quote: Steverinos

Just read the memo. What a nothing burger that was.

Moving on...

But Hannity said it was going to be worse than Watergate.... He wouldn't lie to us, would he?

Usually Friday is the day they dump stuff they want forgotten about.

More jobs than expected created in January

Highest hourly wages since 2009

Trump over 50% approval on economy

Maybe AMS knew exactly what he was doing taking a few days off.

Sometimes you just need to be alone, sit in a corner and cry when things are not going your way.

Congratulations to everyone who saw their wages go up last month and is now bringing home more money each week due to our Presidents signature Tax Bill. Enjoy the extra money and hopefully you can do something fun with it and continue to grow the economy.

Quote: Boz

More jobs than expected created in January

Highest hourly wages since 2009

Trump over 50% approval on economy

Maybe AMS knew exactly what he was doing taking a few days off.

Sometimes you just need to be alone, sit in a corner and cry when things are not going your way.

Congratulations to everyone who saw their wages go up last month and is now bringing home more money each week due to our Presidents signature Tax Bill. Enjoy the extra money and hopefully you can do something fun with it and continue to grow the economy.

You didn't point point out the miserable day that Wall Street is having. That's usually the top of your list!

Quote: Boz

Congratulations to everyone who saw their wages go up last month and is now bringing home more money each week due to our Presidents signature Tax Bill. Enjoy the extra money and hopefully you can do something fun with it and continue to grow the economy.

And don't forget to apologize to your kids who are going to have to work harder to pay that debt off.

Quote: rsactuary

And don't forget to apologize to your kids who are going to have to work harder to pay that debt off.

Don’t have them and not one person in either party has ever cared about the future debt since the 30’s, why should I?

Quote: Steverinos

You didn't point point out the miserable day that Wall Street is having. That's usually the top of your list!

Markets go up and down, but always have gone up over the long term, as you well know. But it’s a great opportunity to fully fund your IRA if you missed out on January 2nd.

Quote: Steverinos

You didn't point point out the miserable day that Wall Street is having. That's usually the top of your list!

Yup
just tuned in CNBC
in huge cap letters right on the screen just above the stock ticker
"DOW PLUNGES 500 POINTS"

While community health centers, usually bipartisan and popular, their funding stopped 3 months ago. They have a $3.6 billion budget and help treat millions of Americans.

1.5 trillion for the elite

3.6 billion for the peasants

Thanks Trump! Man, you are really awesome!

Oh, and by the way, black unemployment WENT UP by a point in January to 7.7. Jay Z is awaiting his tweet!

Don't have them??? Doesn't help the people who already have kids and that's hardly a reasonable request. What an idiotic statement.

Anywhoo.. this memo convinces me more than ever that Trump knows he's broken the law and is desperate to not have that come out. Hopefully his days are numbered.

Quote: rxwine

Usually Friday is the day they dump stuff they want forgotten about.

I don't call this a nothing-burger. It ain't Watergate either.

To summarize the Nunez memo:

FBI gets FISA probably cause against Carter Page, one who has been described as very pro-Russia and part of the Trump campaign. It was renewed three times. The memo complains that the FISA request was granted due to improper information, in this case, the Steele Dossier and everything to do with his bias against Trump (Steele was funded by Clinton's lawyer).

Dems are saying that the memo shouldn't have been released due to its extreme one-sidedness and partisanship. All FISA requests are classified. Evidently there are plenty of other FISA requests into the Trump campaign that are still classified. Should we release those as well? Should all FBI and CIA investigations be out in the open?

The GOP will claim that this memo proves the bias intended to discredit Trump. But there were other reasons that Page was under investigation, and the FISA request *probably* have had other reasons behind it that Nunes doesn't elaborate on because Nunes wants to discredit the investigation. Really, there is no reason to release the memo and to change its status from Top Secret to declassified during an investigation.

And of course, the timing of its release during an ongoing and legitimate investigation is completely suspect. What is true that the trust between the Whitehouse and its intelligence agencies are at an all time low. Doesn't matter anyway, as Trump likely ignores his intelligence briefings and watches Fox and Friends instead.

Meant to post this in the other thread, but since it pertains to this one, I'll leave it here for reference.

Quote: rsactuary

Don't have them??? Doesn't help the people who already have kids and that's hardly a reasonable request. What an idiotic statement.

Anywhoo.. this memo convinces me more than ever that Trump knows he's broken the law and is desperate to not have that come out. Hopefully his days are numbered.

And anyone who has kids of any age knows the world they brought them in to. Stop with the thought that I have some obligations to your kids financially other than following the law. If you or they do not understand your own responsibility in financially taking care of yourself, may a suggest a basic course in personal finance.

You are using your hatred of Trump for whatever reason to use the debt argument against the tax cut. Somehow I doubt you were put with the Tes Party complaining about Obama doubling the debt.

Quote: Boz

And anyone who has kids of any age knows the world they brought them in to. Stop with the thought that I have some obligations to your kids financially other than following the law. If you or they do not understand your own responsibility in financially taking care of yourself, may a suggest a basic course in personal finance.

You are using your hatred of Trump for whatever reason to use the debt argument against the tax cut. Somehow I doubt you were put with the Tes Party complaining about Obama doubling the debt.

Don't assume anything about my political affiliation, because you'd be wrong about it. But since you brought it up, I am all for, and always have been for, balancing the budget every year, regardless of the party in power.

Quote: rsactuary

I am all for, and always have been for, balancing the budget every year, regardless of the party in power.

I totally agree

Wow, Dow now down 600 points

Quote: Steverinos

Jay Z is awaiting his tweet!

At least he's not selling crack.

Quote: Boz

And anyone who has kids of any age knows the world they brought them in to. Stop with the thought that I have some obligations to your kids financially other than following the law. If you or they do not understand your own responsibility in financially taking care of yourself, may a suggest a basic course in personal finance.

You are using your hatred of Trump for whatever reason to use the debt argument against the tax cut. Somehow I doubt you were put with the Tea Party complaining about Obama doubling the debt.

For whatever reason?

The GOP forced Obama into the debt ceiling crisis in 2011 and 2013 because the debt was too high, forcing the Obama administration into spending cuts. The GOP claims to be about fiscal responsibility. Then they passed a bill that would raise the public debt by 1.6 trillion over the next 10 years.

Corporations responded to the tax cut by selectively giving 3 million workers bonuses and raises. There are 154 million workers in the United States. 49% of workers work for medium and large size enterprises (> 500 employees) whose companies benefit from cuts. So, out of say, 75 million eligible workers, 3 million got bonuses and wages, or 4% of the eligible work force. These companies are spending far more of its benefits from the tax cuts on stock buybacks and things to help its share price, which of course, favor the rich.

Don't kid yourself. Besides the selective publicity, the American middle and lower class is still getting screwed.

Quote: bobbartop

At least he's not selling crack.

lol, touche!

Quote: Steverinos

lol, touche!

I always liked this JZ video of him taking the subway to headline to a nearby arena to perform and just having a conversation with an old lady.

Quote: terapined

I always liked this JZ video of him taking the subway to headline to a nearby arena to perform and just having a conversation with an old lady.

Yeah, I guess the film crew, security and his entourage didn't give her a hint.

Quote: billryan

Quote: terapined

I always liked this JZ video of him taking the subway to headline to a nearby arena to perform and just having a conversation with an old lady.

Yeah, I guess the film crew, security and his entourage didn't give her a hint.

Yeah, this wasn't staged... *rolls eyes*