A Deeply Fractured US

[lenaitch]

Also some Fed’s will require a Fed to be with you whenever evidence is acquired (I guess locals often make off with evidence? - history might prove that point though), and always when logging it after.

If I had to guess, it streamlines the chain of custody to the member of their agency.

 

[KevinB]

If I had to guess, it streamlines the chain of custody to the member of their agency.

Yeah it also occurred to me while writing this that some local LE entities not too long ago had a bad habit of violating several Fed laws..

 

[Eaglelord17]

I agree with you to some extent, but I suspect it's more complicated than these types of people simply coming to terms with one man. The Trump movement and supporters would essentially need to come to terms with the entire "Make America Great Again" brand not delivering on the prosperity they are being promised in order to leave him behind. I don't think these folks are ready to accept that despite Trump's claims, we simply can't revive the long post-WWII era of American prosperity and make things that "great again" anytime soon. For many, I think walking away from Trump at this point, is also walking away from that dream, that dream that America can once again quickly become a country similar to the post-war global superpower America that once existed. Accepting the end of something really good is never easy, those were incredibly good times for many Americans (And also Canadians). I think the Trump crowd can typically look past the things you listed like his families personal enrichment, those things aren't a big deal to them as long as they still believe he can still deliver on the overall MAGA dream being promised by him. And he's still 100% promising to do it and keeping that dream alive.

Unfortunately, we are no longer living in, or on the border of, an unquestioned sole global superpower having relatively recently won the biggest war in human history. Those who are young now, due to things beyond their control, will never get to experience those times. The reality of the unique American post-WWII boom created the best economic conditions to date, ever. After years of rationing, war bonds, and saving money, American consumers were ready to spend when they won the war. American factories already geared up from wartime production answered the call as men returned ready to work. Everything from automobile sales to disposable consumer products were able to reach their absolute peaks, North American's were buying homes for cheap and quickly filling them with appliances. This is only a short summary of an era of complex near-perfect ideal conditions, and it was far beyond the credit of any single politician. Most other countries lay in ruins and needed to start from scratch, were under the steel curtain, or in poverty. This period of America's epic superpower history lasted a surprisingly long time, but like most things it's eroding, as the world regains balance and other countries still continue to rebuild, this period slowly ends. Trump's MAGA brand of politics cannot replicate this period, it's simply impossible, and highly unlikely any of us will ever witness another period like it, as much as people naturally want to keep chasing that dream of the era the baby boomers were lucky enough to live in.

Just a point, that era was great for some Americans, not ALL Americans. If you were black in that time period, it was not a good time. If you were native in that time period, it was not a good time.

Part of the issue with the make America great again branding is for many Americans it wasn’t great.

Up until 1965 the US basically had Apartheid. After 1965 it’s not just all racism and discrimination vanished, even their current president voted against things such as shared bussing. It is also why some Americans identify strongly with that ideal, and others reject it out of hand.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Trump says he took the Fifth in New York civil investigation

Former President Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation. Follow AP's live coverage.

apnews.com

Trump declines to answer questions in N.Y. attorney general investigation

The former U.S. president said he declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York state's attorney general, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

www.reuters.com

Trump refuses to answer questions in NY probe into his company

Ex-president insists he did ‘nothing wrong’ but says he invoked Fifth Amendment because he had ‘absolutely no choice’.

www.aljazeera.com

Trump Refuses to Testify in Probe Into His Business Operations

Former US leader invokes Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in New York investigation

www.voanews.com

Gotta say, these clips from old speeches didn't age well ...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557371800627007489

 

[Kat Stevens]

Trump says he took the Fifth in New York civil investigation

Former President Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation. Follow AP's live coverage.

apnews.com

Trump declines to answer questions in N.Y. attorney general investigation

The former U.S. president said he declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York state's attorney general, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

www.reuters.com

Trump refuses to answer questions in NY probe into his company

Ex-president insists he did ‘nothing wrong’ but says he invoked Fifth Amendment because he had ‘absolutely no choice’.

www.aljazeera.com

Trump Refuses to Testify in Probe Into His Business Operations

Former US leader invokes Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in New York investigation

www.voanews.com

Gotta say, these clips from old speeches didn't age well ...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557371800627007489

You mean he exercised his constitutionally guaranteed right, just like every other US citizen is entitled to? GASP! SHOCK! HORROR!! Roll the presses!

 

[IKnowNothing]

Trump says he took the Fifth in New York civil investigation

Former President Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation. Follow AP's live coverage.

apnews.com

Trump declines to answer questions in N.Y. attorney general investigation

The former U.S. president said he declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York state's attorney general, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

www.reuters.com

Trump refuses to answer questions in NY probe into his company

Ex-president insists he did ‘nothing wrong’ but says he invoked Fifth Amendment because he had ‘absolutely no choice’.

www.aljazeera.com

Trump Refuses to Testify in Probe Into His Business Operations

Former US leader invokes Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in New York investigation

www.voanews.com

Gotta say, these clips from old speeches didn't age well ...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557371800627007489

There's more than just the steaming hypocrite angle, only skimmed but I didn't see those articles make reference to the fact that adverse inference can be drawn from pleading the 5th in a civil case.

 

[The Bread Guy]

You mean he exercised his constitutionally guaranteed right, just like every other US citizen is entitled to? GASP! SHOCK! HORROR!! Roll the presses!

As did Hillary, and folks were entitled to comment on that, too.

 

[lenaitch]

Yeah it also occurred to me while writing this that some local LE entities not too long ago had a bad habit of violating several Fed laws..

If there wasn't inter-agency conflict, most of the TV cop shows would loose their plot lines.

As did Hillary, and folks were entitled to comment on that, too.

Yup, but folks who swim in the media pool need to remember that it has a memory.

 

[RangerRay]

A voice of reason. Only those involved know the details and they aren’t saying anything.

Trump Will Release the Warrant

When it’s good for Trump, and not before

www.theatlantic.com

 

[brihard]

There's more than just the steaming hypocrite angle, only skimmed but I didn't see those articles make reference to the fact that adverse inference can be drawn from pleading the 5th in a civil case.

Correct. Cannot draw adverse inference from taking the fifth in a criminal case, but you can in a civil. Balance of probabilities and all that.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I agree with you to some extent, but I suspect it's more complicated than these types of people simply coming to terms with one man. The Trump movement and supporters would essentially need to come to terms with the entire "Make America Great Again" brand not delivering on the prosperity they are being promised in order to leave him behind. I don't think these folks are ready to accept that despite Trump's claims, we simply can't revive the long post-WWII era of American prosperity and make things that "great again" anytime soon. For many, I think walking away from Trump at this point, is also walking away from that dream, that dream that America can once again quickly become a country similar to the post-war global superpower America that once existed. Accepting the end of something really good is never easy, those were incredibly good times for many Americans (And also Canadians). I think the Trump crowd can typically look past the things you listed like his families personal enrichment, those things aren't a big deal to them as long as they still believe he can still deliver on the overall MAGA dream being promised by him. And he's still 100% promising to do it and keeping that dream alive.

Unfortunately, we are no longer living in, or on the border of, an unquestioned sole global superpower having relatively recently won the biggest war in human history. Those who are young now, due to things beyond their control, will never get to experience those times. The reality of the unique American post-WWII boom created the best economic conditions to date, ever. After years of rationing, war bonds, and saving money, American consumers were ready to spend when they won the war. American factories already geared up from wartime production answered the call as men returned ready to work. Everything from automobile sales to disposable consumer products were able to reach their absolute peaks, North American's were buying homes for cheap and quickly filling them with appliances. This is only a short summary of an era of complex near-perfect ideal conditions, and it was far beyond the credit of any single politician. Most other countries lay in ruins and needed to start from scratch, were under the steel curtain, or in poverty. This period of America's epic superpower history lasted a surprisingly long time, but like most things it's eroding, as the world regains balance and other countries still continue to rebuild, this period slowly ends. Trump's MAGA brand of politics cannot replicate this period, it's simply impossible, and highly unlikely any of us will ever witness another period like it, as much as people naturally want to keep chasing that dream of the era the baby boomers were lucky enough to live in.

We can all scream and shout, blame Joe Biden, blame JT, Liberal's, Democrats, Conservatives, Trump or anyone else- but it won't change anything or bring those times back for the dreamers. Just like Trump, JT wasn't able to bring back the "Sunny Days" with his branding and management either, nor will Pierre Poilievre's "common sense" politics, nobody can bring that era back. It's mainstream false political advertising aimed at good people who don't fully understand, due often to no fault of their own, exactly why things are the way they are now and why they don't have the same advantages of the past. With such high expectations, it's no wonder people are so often disappointed, pissed off at each other, out protesting, and why politics have become extreme with so many unrealistic promises. I think best case, eventually someday (maybe after we are all dead?) the era of extreme politics dies off and the next generations accepts they still have relatively good fortune, maybe not as good as in the past, and leaves all this crap behind, to focus on things we can actually change instead of believing in fairy-tales. It would probably be beneficial to vote for a politician with simple goals, regardless of affiliation, for example bringing back more history lessons to high-school students, instead of ones promising something grande like post-WWII America at this point. Whatever they find at Mar-A-Lago doesn't change any of this very complex situation, nor does getting rid of any one person or political party, this is a phenomenon that is much bigger than just one man, or one political side, and getting overly sucked into it won't change reality.

Actually I know a fair number of Americans who saw a significant improvement in their costs and ability to make money, once Trump took over. Most of them barely survived under Obama and worry they don't have a big enough cushion to survive another two term Democrat POTUS. Economically ethnic minorities don't really benefit greatly from Democrat run governments at the State or Federal level. Successful ethnic groups don't make good victims to exploit.
Onshoring is happening, partly because of Trumps government polices, but also spurred by geo-political events. Mexico and the US labour forces are going to benefit. Canada could too if we had a smart government...
China will always be a industrial powerhouse, but are losing a lot of contracts, partly do to politics, but also a realization that nothing is on the level in China and foreign companies have very limited recourse in their legal system and a government that is hostile to them.

 

[dapaterson]

Massive government deficits, and running up debts may create short term perceived gains, but create long term economic damage.

 

[KevinB]

But hey we are going to hire 87k more IRS agents - to squeeze the middle class harder...
We won't give money over to LE to help protect schools, or more money for mental health, but lets make sure the USG gets their tax dollars quicker...

I swear the Democrats really just want to see Trump get elected again FFS.

 

[Good2Golf]

But hey we are going to hire 87k more IRS agents - to squeeze the middle class harder...
We won't give money over to LE to help protect schools, or more money for mental health, but lets make sure the USG gets their tax dollars quicker...

I swear the Democrats really just want to see Trump get elected again FFS.

Are the Dems taking lessons from how Team Trudeau is “looking after” the middle class?

 

[brihard]

Why the issue with hiring more IRS agents? They can only go after taxes that are already owed under law anyway. Is there credible reason to fear they’ll just be ‘going after the middle class’, whose taxes are usually quite straightforward and simple and with relatively negligible additional revenue to be brought in, or are they more likely to be used to help identify wealth people and business that aren’t paying their due taxes? Colour me skeptical that this is actually an attack in the middle class.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Well you can bet they will have a quota system of audits that they will be doing and even if you try hard to be above board, an audit by CRA/IRS can be stressful and the IRS does not exactly have the greatest rep for being nice about it. So you can bet that more Middle Class will get hit by audits because they will need numbers to justify those positions and the Middle Class will be the low hanging fruit as opposed to going after rich people with accountants and lawyers.

 

[brihard]

Well you can bet they will have a quota system of audits that they will be doing and even if you try hard to be above board, an audit by CRA/IRS can be stressful and the IRS does not exactly have the greatest rep for being nice about it. So you can bet that more Middle Class will get hit by audits because they will need numbers to justify those positions and the Middle Class will be the low hanging fruit as opposed to going after rich people with accountants and lawyers.

I should have paused to dig a bit before replying in the first place. Looks like the ‘87,000 new IRS agents’ is bullshit to begin with. I got suckered into replying to a Republican partisan talking point that’s not grounded in reality.

No, Biden is Not Hiring 87,000 New IRS Agents

It's a false claim being spread by prominent Republicans after the FBI searched Trump's home.

time.com

 

[KevinB]

I should have paused to dig a bit before replying in the first place. Looks like the ‘87,000 new IRS agents’ is bullshit to begin with. I got suckered into replying to a Republican partisan talking point that’s not grounded in reality.

No, Biden is Not Hiring 87,000 New IRS Agents

It's a false claim being spread by prominent Republicans after the FBI searched Trump's home.

time.com

From your article:
$78 billion for the IRS to be phased in over 10 years. A Treasury Department report from May 2021 estimated that such an investment would enable the agency to hire roughly 87,000 employees by 2031.

Maybe not all agents - but a massive increase - at a time when most Taxes are being filed electronically...

 

[Navy_Pete]

Wow, seeing some reports of shots fired at an FBI office in Cincinnati.

This hyperpartisanship has real world impacts.

 

[QV]

From your article:
$78 billion for the IRS to be phased in over 10 years. A Treasury Department report from May 2021 estimated that such an investment would enable the agency to hire roughly 87,000 employees by 2031.

Maybe not all agents - but a massive increase - at a time when most Taxes are being filed electronically...

Targeting the middle class would be profitable, many can't/won't pay for good enough lawyers to dodge whatever is coming at them.