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52-48 and 53-47 in Trump's favour. Romney voted against him on one of the articles, 'in accordance with [his] Mormon faith'.
If memory serves correctly, Romney is no Trump fan and was one of the last ones, or the ones that needed most convincing, to get behind him 4 years ago.
I see professional racist, homophobe, anti feminist, anti choice, and all round good guy Rich Limbaugh won the Presidential medal of Freedom - the countries highest civilian honour.
But no white supremacist ideology because numbers!
Also, Limbaugh announced he has cancer. Which is a terrible, terrible shame. Terrible.
If you are celebrating someone has been diagnosed with late stage cancer, that is low. Very low. Irrespective of differences of opinion, no matter how much we disagree, we should try to show a little class and at a minimum keep that type of schadenfreude to ourselves. There are very few individuals in this world who would be deserving of this type of celebration by decent people like us.
What are your thoughts on Limbaugh Stu?
Ah, to be honest, I don’t know much about him and haven’t researched him very much at all - apart from reading what’s been in the news since his announcement about his cancer. I’d heard of him for sure amd was somewhat aware of how divisive he was. There was one article I saw a couple of days ago - snopes maybe - that concluded that of all the quotes attributed to him only a handful could be truly substantiated. So I don’t have many thoughts on him tbh. I just don’t think he really deserves to have people celebrating a terminal cancer diagnosis. It’s pretty low class. That’s all I was saying.
https://twitter.com/numbersmuncher/s...218994689?s=21
Pure savagery.
If you were around when Hitler topped himself, would you have celebrated? How about Pol Pot? Saddam Hussein?
Some people are scum and deserve what happens to them. Call it karma if you like, I don't believe in it personally, but I for one am delighted Limbaugh's time on this earth has been shortened, and look forward to Trump, Putin and their ilk leaving.
Some facts for the Trump fans to pretend don't exist:
Trump's record on the military, veterans, and military families:
• Pardoned multiple war criminals, which stomped on long standing military values, discipline, and command. Trump has no military experience (May&Nov, 2019)
• Trump mocked Lt. Col. Vindman for his rank and uniform. He threatened said purple heart officer, resulting in the Army providing him protection • Trump’s Chief of Staff worked—in secret—to deny comprehensive health coverage to Vietnam Vets who have suffered from Agent Orange.
• There is a facility in Tijuana for US veterans that Trump deported. Wounded war vet, Sen Duckworth (D) marked Veterans Day 2019 by visiting this facility
• Russia took control of the main U.S. military facility in Syria abandoned on Trump’s orders. Russia now owns the airstrip we built. • On Oct 7, 2019, Trump abruptly withdrew support from America's allies in Syria after a phone call with Turkey's president (Erdogan). Turkey subsequently bombed US Special Forces.
• Trump sent thousands of American troops to defend the oil assets of the country that perpetrated 9/11. • In Sept 2019, he made an Air Force cargo crew, flying from the U.S. to Kuwait stop in Scotland (where there's no U.S. base) to refuel at a commercial airport (where it costs more), so they could stay overnight at a Trump property (which isn't close to the airport). Trump’s golf courses are losing money, so he's forcing the military to pay for 5-star nights there.
• In Sept, 2019, Pentagon pulled funds for military schools, daycare to pay for Trump's border wall.
• In Aug, 2019, emails revealed that three of Trump's Mar-a-Lago pals, who are now running Veterans Affairs, are rampant with meddling. "They had no experience in veterans affairs (none of them even served in the military) nor underwent any kind of approval process to serve as de facto managers. Yet, with Trump’s approval, they directed actions and criticized operations without any oversight. They wasted valuable staff time in hundreds of pages of communications and meetings, emails show. Emails reveal disdainful attitudes within the department to the trio’s meddling."
• Veterans graves will be "dug up" for the border wall, after Trump instructed aides to seize private property. Trump told officials he would pardon them if they break the law by illegally seizing property
• Children of deployed US troops will no longer get automatic American citizenship if born overseas during deployment. This includes US troops posted abroad for years at a time (August 28, 2019)
• On August 2, 2019, Trump requisitioned military retirement funds towards border wall
• On July 31, 2019, Trump ordered the Navy rescind medals to prosecutors who were prosecuted war criminals
• Trump denied a U.S. Marine of 6 years entry into the United States for his scheduled citizenship interview (Reported July 17, 2019)
• Trump made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them fly at his July 4th political campaign event (July 4, 2019)
• Trump demanded US military chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade (reported July 2, 2019)
• In June, 2019, Trump sent troops to the border to paint the fence for a better "aesthetic appearance"
• Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (June 6, 2019)
• Trump started his D-Day commemoration speech by attacking a private citizen (Bette Midler, of all people) (reported on June 4th, 2019)
• Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have cut off all child support if Tiffany joined the military (reported June 4th, 2019)
• On May 27, 2019, Trump turned away US military from his Memorial Day speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain
• Trump ordered the USS John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan (May 15, 2019). The ship's name was subsequently covered. (May 27, 2019)
• Trump purged 200,000 veterans healthcare applications (due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment system) (reported on May 13, 2019)
• Trump deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless (April 16, 2019)
...more to follow...
Wait, wait, there's more....
• On March 20, 2019, Trump complained that a deceased war hero didn't thank him for his funeral
• On Feb 25, 2019, Trump diverted military housing funds to pay for his border wall. A judge subsequently denied this. In July 2019, SCOTUS ruled that Trump could in fact divert military housing funds to pay for his wall.
• Between 12/22/2018, and 1/25/2019, Trump refused to sign his party's funding bill, which shut down the government, forcing the Coast Guard to go without pay, which made service members rely on food pantries. However, his appointees got a $10,000 pay raise
• He banned service members from serving based on gender identity (1/22/2019)
• He denied female troops access to birth control to limit sexual activity (on-going. Published Jan 18, 2019)
• He tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen (Jan 16, 2019)
• When a man was caught swindling veterans pensions for high-interest “cash advances," Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined him $1. As a reminder, the Trump administration's goal was to dismantle the CFPB, installing Mick Mulvaney as the director, who publicly stated the bureau should be disbanded. (Jan 26, 2019)
• He called a retired general a 'dog' with a 'big, dumb mouth' (Jan 1, 2019)
• He increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost (2018)
• He finally visited troops 2 years after taking office, but only after 154 vacation days at his properties (Dec 26, 2018)
• He revealed a covert Seal Team 5 deployment, including names and faces, on Twitter during his visit to Iraq (Dec 26, 2018)
• Trump lied to deployed troops that he gave them a 10% raise (12/26/2018). He tried giving the military a raise that was lower than the standard living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn't going to work. Then after giving them the raise that Congress made him, he lied about it pretending that it was larger than Obama's. It wasn't.
• He fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays (Dec 19, 2018-present)
• He tried to slash disability and unemployment benefits for Veterans to $0, and eliminate the unemployability extrascheduler rating (Dec 17, 2018)
• He called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he's most thankful for himself (Thanksgiving, 2018)
• He urged Florida to not count deployed military votes (Nov 12, 2018)
• He canceled an Arlington Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain (Nov 12, 2018)
• While in Europe commemorating the end of WWI, he didn't attend the ceremony at a US cemetery due to the rain -- other world leaders went anyway (Nov 10, 2018)
• He used troops as a political prop by sending them on a phantom mission to the border and made them miss Thanksgiving with their families (Oct-Dec, 2018)
• He stopped using troops as a political prop immediately after the election. However, the troops remained in muddy camps on the border (Nov 7, 2018)
• Trump changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act, causing the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many veterans to run out of food and rent. (reported October 7, 2018)
• Trump doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections (July 5, 2018)
• Trump deported active-duty spouses (11,800 military families face this problem as of April 2018)
• He forgot a fallen soldier's name (below) during a call to his pregnant widow, then attacked her the next day (Oct 23-24, 2017)
• He sent commandos into an ambush due to a lack of intel, and sends contractors to pick them up, resulting in a commando being left behind, tortured, and executed. (Trump approved the mission because Bannon told him Obama didn't have the guts to do it) (Oct 4, 2017)
• He blocked a veteran group on Twitter (June 2017)
• He ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records (2017-present)
• He deported veterans (2017-present)
• He said he knows more about ISIS than American generals (Oct 2016)
• On October 3, 2016, Trump said vets get PTSD because they aren't strong (note: yes, he said it's 'because they aren't strong.' He didn't say it's 'because they're weak.' This distinction is important because of Snopes)
• Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a fan at one of his rallies and said: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.” (Aug 2, 2016)
• Trump attacks Gold Star families - Myeshia Johnson--gold star widow, Khan family--gold star parents, etc. (2016-present)
• Trump sent funds raised from a January 2016 veterans benefit to the Donald J Trump Foundation instead of veterans charities (the foundation has since been ordered shut because of fraud) (Jan, 2016)
• Trump said he has "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military" because he went to a military-style academy (2015 biography)
• Trump said he doesn't consider POWs heroes because they were caught. He said he prefers people who were not caught (July 18, 2015)
• Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam (1998)
• For a decade, Trump sought to kick veterans off of Fifth Avenue because he found them unsightly nuisances outside of Trump Tower. “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?” - 1991
• Trump dodged the draft 5 times by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs.
• No Trump in America has ever served in the military; this spans 5 generations, and every branch of the family tree. In fact, the reason his grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid military service
via
Are you really comparing racist or bigoted comments by a shock jock with the actions of those who are guilty of killing and maiming millions of civilians?? Get some perspective for goodness sake.Quote:
Originally Posted by dahamsta
As I said above there are very few individuals in this world who would be deserving of this type of celebration by decent people like us.
As an aside, I’m not sure why you combined my two posts above as they are completely unrelated. We cannot post two unrelated posts in a row?
The racist and bigoted comments made by people like him have destroyed America, and the UK, and many other countries. They are destroying democracy, they are making authoritarian rule the default. Sure, it's combined with other problems like education and health, but those problems in turn were caused by... people like Limbaugh. Has he committed murders? No. Has he caused them? Probably. Has he caused deaths? Definitely. Screw him, I hope he rots in the hell that I don't believe in.
When I see multiple posts in a row, I merge them. 99% of the time it's post count whoring. It's not directed at you. Not everything is about you.
I wasn’t making anything about me. We’re having a conversation are we not? Read my post again. I asked a question about whether *we* (the collective population of this website) can or can’t now post two posts in a row.
I asked the question because I was concerned that a post about the presidential campaign being run by Biden and how he attacked Buttigieg really effectively would get lost in something completely unrelated.
I could understand the desire to combine posts posted shortly after one another that are about the same thing and I understand the preference to multiquote v multipost. I just see this as different. I’m not an unreasonable chap. But as I said, I see this example a little different.
Re: Limbaugh etc, I’m not here to defend him or his words, just think the stuff on here is lacking in perspective and class. Yay cancer!
Michael J Fox might be permitted a little chuckle of satisfaction perhaps?
I love it when people mention 'crazy' statistics. Here's another for you -Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
According to the most recent figures, the top 1% in America earned 20.65% of the national income, and paid 39.04% of all federal income taxes. The figures for the top 5% are 36.07% and 59.58% respectively.
Has Rutger outlined what he thinks would constitute a fairer distribution? Can you?
Can one of the mods explain why my reply to RAM's post keeps appearing as a link?
It tends to happen when you quote an embedded tweet for some reason. The "link" in your post goes to the same tweet RAM posted.
I do agree with you in general though. Ireland is different to the US of course, but the stats here (from the CSO) are that 65.8% of people who earned less than 40k - accounting for 31.1% of total pay in Ireland - but the only paid 9.9% of the total tax take. 6.1% of workers earned more than 100k - 26.7% of total pay - but paid 53.3% of tax.
There's been a lot said in this election here about how the higher earners need to pay more tax, but those figures don't support that view to me. If anything, the system is skewed too much the other way, but the 65.8% presumably carry 65.8% of the votes, so we end up with populist politics...
Ahh ok. I couldn't understand why it kept happening, hence the deleted replies.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Rhetoric is a powerful thing, and if rhetoric is the standard by which people measure presidential candidates then Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would probably be a great president. If facts are the yardstick however, then she'd probably be a disaster.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
America and Britain have been in comparative decline for some time, and the notion that nutters like the above (or Katie Hopkins say) are to blame for that is ludicrous. They're just unfortunate symptoms of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by dahamsta
I'm not sure I see anything crazy about what you posted. Those stats seem pretty much in line with most countries. Richer people in general pay more tax. It's hardly groundbreaking. What the US has an issue with is inequality.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Fly
Warren Buffet famously commented over 15 years ago now that he paid a lesser rate of tax than his secretary. America is clearly an unequal society. CBS did an interesting piece on it recently. (No pun intended incase the Pun Police are around :) )
https://youtu.be/DANUXO-GQwU
Once upon a Time a Republican government in the US made the super rich pay up to 70% on estate taxes as well as other wealth taxes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progre...tes_income_tax
Quote:
In general, the United States federal income tax is progressive, as rates of tax generally increase as taxable income increases, at least with respect to individuals that earn wage income. ... As recently as the late 1970s, the top marginal tax rate in the U.S. was 70%
What did AOC do to you?Quote:
Originally Posted by The Fly
Last I heard of her she was saving NYC taxpayers $3bn in subsidies for the world's richest person. Tangible savings for the people there - the absolute opposite of rhetoric.
https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-offices-lease
Not bad.
My curiosity got the better of me. Yes, yes he would.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fizzer
And it reminds me of that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. :D
(Probably the most foot.ie friendly Parkinson’s quote I could find from that episode!)Quote:
Larry: “He’s upset because I shushed him earlier.”
“You know he has a condition…he shakes.”
Larry: “Yeah you’re right, maybe it was a Parkinson’s shake.”
“It could have been a Parkinson’s shake.”
Larry: “So….wait is it p1ssed or Parkinson’s? I don’t know.”