Trump Presidency Round 2

GowerND11 · Monday at 3:05 PM

RDU Irish said:
This may shock you but I pay a lot of state and local taxes. Buying tickets to the UNC game had a 7% tax on resale tickets (one third of which goes to the county). $480 of annual registration fee on my truck was $100 to the state, $250 county and $130 city. 4% income tax, about 1% of real estate value annually - state and local taxes collectively aren't far behind my total federal tax bill and have exponentially more positive impact on my daily life than anything DC does or doesn't do.

That 18 cent federal gas tax --- the state is taking 41 cents - two thirds of state of North Carolina gas taxes are state - not fed.
Comparing 2026 Gas Taxes by State

Chuck Grassley should petition the state of Iowa for gas price relief on his way to telling Trump to GTFO the ME.

Again... We are talking about massive budget shortfalls if they don't raise revenue. 11.7% or so of school district budgets comes from the federal government. That is MILLIONS of dollars for many districts that would have to be made up. The only way to do that is raise taxes.

So while we can agree that the federal government has major spending issues, just handing off everything to the states and locals would have serious consequences, especially if peoples' income tax rates (and other federally instituted taxes) do not drop.

drayer54 · Monday at 4:25 PM

TorontoGold said:
Did Trump lose his platform after being banned?

When they took him off social media? They were deliberately trying to cut his reach and silence his voice. Absolutely. The Twitter/Meta cut was a huge turning point in big tech censorship and a leap from the shadow bans we were experiencing before.
I don't agree with banning the networks. I think you take them head on. Taking on the joke news has made Republicans much stronger in the past decade as opposed to Dems who deal with kid gloves from the press. Even MSNow, which is a glorified HuffPo Tv station and not even close to news. Call out the shit- don't ban it.

GowerND11 · Monday at 6:53 PM

drayer54 said:
When they took him off social media? They were deliberately trying to cut his reach and silence his voice. Absolutely. The Twitter/Meta cut was a huge turning point in big tech censorship and a leap from the shadow bans we were experiencing before.
I don't agree with banning the networks. I think you take them head on. Taking on the joke news has made Republicans much stronger in the past decade as opposed to Dems who deal with kid gloves from the press. Even MSNow, which is a glorified HuffPo Tv station and not even close to news. Call out the shit- don't ban it.

I’m sorry. I thought you supported private enterprises doing what they freely can do?

Shouldn’t you also support that the federal government can’t infringe on the press?

The Trump double speak at it again.

TorontoGold · Monday at 7:02 PM

drayer54 said:
When they took him off social media? They were deliberately trying to cut his reach and silence his voice. Absolutely. The Twitter/Meta cut was a huge turning point in big tech censorship and a leap from the shadow bans we were experiencing before.
I don't agree with banning the networks. I think you take them head on. Taking on the joke news has made Republicans much stronger in the past decade as opposed to Dems who deal with kid gloves from the press. Even MSNow, which is a glorified HuffPo Tv station and not even close to news. Call out the shit- don't ban it.

Do you believe in a terms of service? Was Donald Trump banned for being a conservative or breaking the TOS?

Fbolt · Monday at 7:22 PM

TorontoGold said:
Do you believe in a terms of service? Was Donald Trump banned for being a conservative or breaking the TOS?

Here we go vortexing. The Liar speaks. Go to the Canadian thread.

TorontoGold · Monday at 7:34 PM

Fbolt said:
Here we go vortexing. The Liar speaks. Go to the Canadian thread.

Your make-a-wish-bish lobotomy is setting in just fine. Fire up COD so you can play pretend solider with all the other divorced Dads.

ulukinatme · Monday at 10:01 PM

TorontoGold said:
Ok, so because Obama tried to do this it’s ok that Trump is actually doing it? Is that your position?

Why is there a higher standard for a private company, Twitter, than the White House?

My position is it feels like selective outrage, and I'm guessing there wasn't anything said when the shoe was on the other foot.

GATTACA! · Monday at 10:06 PM

White House Launches Trump TV Amid Media Ban: What We Know

www.newsweek.com

And there’s the rub. Literally everything this administration does is some type of scheme to enrich themselves.

Bishop2b5 · Monday at 10:23 PM

GATTACA! said:
White House Launches Trump TV Amid Media Ban: What We Know

www.newsweek.com

And there’s the rub. Literally everything this administration does is some type of scheme to enrich themselves.

Now you know how we felt when Biden's POS son was selling shitty paintings for millions or getting appointed to the BOD of companies he had absolutely no expertise in for millions... and 10% for the Big Guy. I'm sure it was all on the up and up, and no influence or access was being bought.

GATTACA! · Monday at 10:29 PM

Bishop2b5 said:
Now you know how we felt when Biden's POS son was selling shitty paintings for millions or getting appointed to the BOD of companies he had absolutely no expertise in for millions... and 10% for the Big Guy. I'm sure it was all on the up and up, and no influence or access was being bought.

You’re talking the difference between someone stealing a $5 bill vs stealing your car. The two aren’t even remotely on the same level. Was Hunter going to the Middle East and brokering deals with foreign nations like Kushner? Did Joe start a shitcoin while in office and scam the American public? Sell pardons to every convicted fraudster with $3 million dollars laying around? Trump made 4 fucking billion dollars last year and that’s just what he reported.

None of this to say that absolutely none of us cared or defended Hunter Biden. I couldn’t give two shits about him and wouldn’t bat an eye if he was convicted of the crimes you guys wouldn’t shut up about.

TorontoGold · Monday at 10:43 PM

ulukinatme said:
My position is it feels like selective outrage, and I'm guessing there wasn't anything said when the shoe was on the other foot.

This is an unprovable argument. No one here can possibly say or change your mind about how someone thought of an action Obama took decades ago.

So why not just deal with the issue at hand? No one here is part of a news org or the Obama admin, so the talking point tweets don’t really fit.

TorontoGold · Monday at 10:51 PM

GATTACA! said:
You’re talking the difference between someone stealing a $5 bill vs stealing your car. The two aren’t even remotely on the same level. Was Hunter going to the Middle East and brokering deals with foreign nations like Kushner? Did Joe start a shitcoin while in office and scam the American public? Sell pardons to every convicted fraudster with $3 million dollars laying around? Trump made 4 fucking billion dollars last year and that’s just what he reported.

None of this to say that absolutely none of us cared or defended Hunter Biden. I couldn’t give two shits about him and wouldn’t bat an eye if he was convicted of the crimes you guys wouldn’t shut up about.

Bishy is the type of guy to say Henry Ruggs is a great guy because Georgia players get speeding tickets. Size and scope don’t matter.

ulukinatme · Monday at 11:25 PM

TorontoGold said:
This is an unprovable argument. No one here can possibly say or change your mind about how someone thought of an action Obama took decades ago.

So why not just deal with the issue at hand? No one here is part of a news org or the Obama admin, so the talking point tweets don’t really fit.

Does it matter? If Obama and Biden did the same thing or similar then there's precedent here and the outrage is just silly, or is it only bad when the Orange Turd does it?

GowerND11 · 2026-09-22T08:39:36-0400

ulukinatme said:
Does it matter? If Obama and Biden did the same thing or similar then there's precedent here and the outrage is just silly, or is it only bad when the Orange Turd does it?

But they didn't. Obama's Treasury Secretary tried to bar Fox from 1 interview, and everyone (re: the press) said fine, then none of us will be there. So the Secretary relented. That is not the same as this.

TorontoGold · 2026-09-22T09:50:18-0400

ulukinatme said:
Does it matter? If Obama and Biden did the same thing or similar then there's precedent here and the outrage is just silly, or is it only bad when the Orange Turd does it?

Did they? I’m not sure, see Gower.

Let’s take your position as fact, ok, so they did it, does that make it ok for Trump to do it? If there is precedent of a bad thing happening, does that mean that a future bad thing is just silly outrage? You wouldn’t extrapolate that line of thinking to other incidents with Presidents on the other side.

RDU Irish · 2026-09-22T10:26:14-0400

GowerND11 said:
Again... We are talking about massive budget shortfalls if they don't raise revenue. 11.7% or so of school district budgets comes from the federal government. That is MILLIONS of dollars for many districts that would have to be made up. The only way to do that is raise taxes.

So while we can agree that the federal government has major spending issues, just handing off everything to the states and locals would have serious consequences, especially if peoples' income tax rates (and other federally instituted taxes) do not drop.

We can't afford a $7T federal budget. Government has accepted inflation as a better tax than anything else - horribly regressive, increases dependency and not as bad for the geriatrics that won't have to feel the compounded pain twenty years from now. If you are spending 50% more than you earn maybe you don't get a new car this year or lobster for dinner, for starters right? Well to hell with that if you have a bottomless credit card or fake Medicare service company - LFG to Disney!

I agree with your hidden premise that austerity is impossible. God forbid the precious teachers who work six months out of the year and have half of their day for "prep" take a pay cut. That will never happen, only way around it is school choice to defund the broken indoctrination system. "Hey we lost federal funding so we are freezing salaries and pensions. You have to get 401k and chip in to your posh healthcare plan like everyone whose kids you are supposed to be teaching." Good grief the government class of employees. CUT IT ALL 10%, not just the schools. Across the board 10% cuts until the budget gets balanced- SS and Medicare too. Tough titties folks get to work - shouldn't have voted toward austerity for the last 25 years.

On top of all of that - I don't think you realize how little most people pay in income tax the way it is. A married couple earning $130k is in a 12% tax bracket still taking home close to $10k/month net of federal taxes. FICA is much more of a bit in their ass than income taxes but proles don't understand the unseen 7.65% their employer is kicking in on top of their share. $10k income tax, $20k FICA collected - $30k to the feds on a $130k earning household isn't enough.

SS/Medicare/USAID fraud should enrage people. Like the police need to protect the offenders. Instead we have people attacking and obstructing ICE and Doge. Lunacy.

GowerND11 · 2026-09-22T11:14:57-0400

RDU Irish said:
We can't afford a $7T federal budget. Government has accepted inflation as a better tax than anything else - horribly regressive, increases dependency and not as bad for the geriatrics that won't have to feel the compounded pain twenty years from now. If you are spending 50% more than you earn maybe you don't get a new car this year or lobster for dinner, for starters right? Well to hell with that if you have a bottomless credit card or fake Medicare service company - LFG to Disney!

I agree with your hidden premise that austerity is impossible. God forbid the precious teachers who work six months out of the year and have half of their day for "prep" take a pay cut. That will never happen, only way around it is school choice to defund the broken indoctrination system. "Hey we lost federal funding so we are freezing salaries and pensions. You have to get 401k and chip in to your posh healthcare plan like everyone whose kids you are supposed to be teaching." Good grief the government class of employees. CUT IT ALL 10%, not just the schools. Across the board 10% cuts until the budget gets balanced- SS and Medicare too. Tough titties folks get to work - shouldn't have voted toward austerity for the last 25 years.

On top of all of that - I don't think you realize how little most people pay in income tax the way it is. A married couple earning $130k is in a 12% tax bracket still taking home close to $10k/month net of federal taxes. FICA is much more of a bit in their ass than income taxes but proles don't understand the unseen 7.65% their employer is kicking in on top of their share. $10k income tax, $20k FICA collected - $30k to the feds on a $130k earning household isn't enough.

SS/Medicare/USAID fraud should enrage people. Like the police need to protect the offenders. Instead we have people attacking and obstructing ICE and Doge. Lunacy.

I mean... as a teacher. We work more than you claim. We are also severely underpaid. We made $.94 on the dollar in comparison to those with comparable educations in 1994. In 2024 we made $.73 on the dollar. So, yeah. Definitely have not kept up with others with same educational requirements. We don't indoctrinate kids. I promise you. We don't.

School choice is terrible. It just allows the rich, or whoever, already sending their kids to private schools to not pay for it. That doesn't help people/families.

RDU Irish · 2026-09-22T11:46:38-0400

GowerND11 said:
I mean... as a teacher. We work more than you claim. We are also severely underpaid. We made $.94 on the dollar in comparison to those with comparable educations in 1994. In 2024 we made $.73 on the dollar. So, yeah. Definitely have not kept up with others with same educational requirements. We don't indoctrinate kids. I promise you. We don't.

School choice is terrible. It just allows the rich, or whoever, already sending their kids to private schools to not pay for it. That doesn't help people/families.

My nephew is starting at $50k for middle school social studies. He has summers, two weeks at Christmas, spring break and a bevy of random days off. Hourly rate is pretty solid. Did I mention the pension and benefits? Adjusted for actual days of work that is equivalent to a $75k/year salary for normies getting two weeks PTO over the course of the year and eight holidays. Don't forget that posh pension - work 40 years (22 to 62) and you will have 80% of your pay replaced.....PLUS Social Security to net more pay in retirement than you did working. Not bad for 2/3 of a job.

I have a recent college graduate, a college sophomore and a freshman in HS - I assure you there is plenty of indoctrination and ridiculousness in our education system from pre-K to college and plenty of room for improved outcomes at lower costs. Your union isn't doing you any favors and the teachers refusing to work during Covid pulled the wool off of every young family's eyes on your protected class.

Victim mentality of teachers bleeds over to their students. You have a great deal and should stop being a bunch of bitches about it. Its unbecoming and patently false. Get your union to focus on discipline and accountability to remove bad apples (students and teachers) and you might find the job is actually fun too.

GowerND11 · 2026-09-22T12:34:55-0400

RDU Irish said:
My nephew is starting at $50k for middle school social studies. He has summers, two weeks at Christmas, spring break and a bevy of random days off. Hourly rate is pretty solid. Did I mention the pension and benefits? Adjusted for actual days of work that is equivalent to a $75k/year salary for normies getting two weeks PTO over the course of the year and eight holidays. Don't forget that posh pension - work 40 years (22 to 62) and you will have 80% of your pay replaced.....PLUS Social Security to net more pay in retirement than you did working. Not bad for 2/3 of a job.

I have a recent college graduate, a college sophomore and a freshman in HS - I assure you there is plenty of indoctrination and ridiculousness in our education system from pre-K to college and plenty of room for improved outcomes at lower costs. Your union isn't doing you any favors and the teachers refusing to work during Covid pulled the wool off of every young family's eyes on your protected class.

Victim mentality of teachers bleeds over to their students. You have a great deal and should stop being a bunch of bitches about it. Its unbecoming and patently false. Get your union to focus on discipline and accountability to remove bad apples (students and teachers) and you might find the job is actually fun too.

No victim mentality here. Just providing facts.

Many states are getting rid of the guaranteed pension these days. The result? Almost an immediate decline in students attending college to be teachers. Weird. Also, again, I mentioned that what teachers receive in pay now is less than 30 years ago when compared to other degrees. You ignore that.

I love my job. I never complain about my job. But these are real issues facing education. Meanwhile, you're idea is to... make it worse.

GATTACA! · 2026-09-22T13:22:28-0400

RDU Irish said:
My nephew is starting at $50k for middle school social studies. He has summers, two weeks at Christmas, spring break and a bevy of random days off. Hourly rate is pretty solid. Did I mention the pension and benefits? Adjusted for actual days of work that is equivalent to a $75k/year salary for normies getting two weeks PTO over the course of the year and eight holidays. Don't forget that posh pension - work 40 years (22 to 62) and you will have 80% of your pay replaced.....PLUS Social Security to net more pay in retirement than you did working. Not bad for 2/3 of a job.

I have a recent college graduate, a college sophomore and a freshman in HS - I assure you there is plenty of indoctrination and ridiculousness in our education system from pre-K to college and plenty of room for improved outcomes at lower costs. Your union isn't doing you any favors and the teachers refusing to work during Covid pulled the wool off of every young family's eyes on your protected class.

Victim mentality of teachers bleeds over to their students. You have a great deal and should stop being a bunch of bitches about it. Its unbecoming and patently false. Get your union to focus on discipline and accountability to remove bad apples (students and teachers) and you might find the job is actually fun too.

Such a cushy job. No wonder people are falling all over themselves to become teachers.

Republicans hate education.

Fbolt · 2026-09-22T14:51:28-0400

TorontoGold said:
Your make-a-wish-bish lobotomy is setting in just fine. Fire up COD so you can play pretend solider with all the other divorced Dads.

This reminds me, do you have a picture of your Mom?

drayer54 · 2026-09-22T20:13:43-0400

GATTACA! said:
Such a cushy job. No wonder people are falling all over themselves to become teachers.

Republicans hate education.

I hate the teachers unions. I hate the conscious discipline strategies that are ruining public schools. The behaviors in schools are worse than anything and the schools are letting it happen. The teachers are hit and miss as they have always been. Education should be a priority, but we will never agree on how to get there. I do like local control so that the crazy states can nix tests, standards, and milestones and pump people out who can't read while others can try to at least make it work. I'd put my kid in a school in Mississippi before I would Chicago or Portland.

Polish Leppy 22 · 2026-09-22T20:25:30-0400

GowerND11 said:
I mean... as a teacher. We work more than you claim. We are also severely underpaid. We made $.94 on the dollar in comparison to those with comparable educations in 1994. In 2024 we made $.73 on the dollar. So, yeah. Definitely have not kept up with others with same educational requirements. We don't indoctrinate kids. I promise you. We don't.

School choice is terrible. It just allows the rich, or whoever, already sending their kids to private schools to not pay for it. That doesn't help people/families.

Just the opposite. The rich (or whoever or however you classify these folks) are sending their kids to private school and paying for it regardless. The biggest driver behind school choice is giving kids who are locked into failing public schools another option. Pull up the math and reading numbers of any metro city and it's not hard to understand the appeal.

GATTACA! · 2026-09-22T20:48:11-0400

Polish Leppy 22 said:
Just the opposite. The rich (or whoever or however you classify these folks) are sending their kids to private school and paying for it regardless. The biggest driver behind school choice is giving kids who are locked into failing public schools another option. Pull up the math and reading numbers of any metro city and it's not hard to understand the appeal.

Exactly. Rich people are sending their kids to private schools regardless so a $5k voucher just goes in their pockets. How many poor people can suddenly afford $15k private school that's now only $10k? Zero

It's another republican handout for rich people.

drayer54 · 2026-09-22T21:58:44-0400

GATTACA! said:
It's another republican handout for Hispanics

FIFY. that's who is using it the most

GATTACA! · 2026-09-22T22:11:21-0400

drayer54 said:
FIFY. that's who is using it the most

Who Uses School Vouchers? National Data and Demographics | Children's Equity Project | The Children's Equity Project

cep.asu.edu

For example, Texas data indicate that 63 percent of voucher applicants came from middle- to high-income households, while 75 percent were previously enrolled in private schools or homeschooling before applying.

Similarly, Indiana's universal Choice Scholarship Program has become widely accessible to upper-middle-income families.

47 percent of recipients earned more than $150,000 annually.

26.8 percent earned over $250,000 per year.

Rich hispanics perhaps, even that doesn't seem accurate.

White families make up bulk of Texas voucher applicants

Of the almost 275,000 students who applied for vouchers, 45% are white and 75% attended a private school or home-school in 2024-25, final numbers show.

www.texastribune.org

Hispanic students underrepresented in voucher applications
According to the Texas Education Agency, the majority of public school students in the current school year are Hispanic.
Meanwhile, about 75% of voucher applicants attended a private school or home-school during the 2024-25 academic year. The comptroller did not provide data on students’ current enrollment.

The state found nearly 25,000 voucher applications ineligible.

The applicant pool, while not fully reflective of the families who will ultimately receive voucher funds, indicates that taxpayer money will mostly flow to families who, before the program, had already committed to having their children educated in a private school or home-school.

GowerND11 · 2026-09-22T23:28:34-0400

GATTACA! said:
Who Uses School Vouchers? National Data and Demographics | Children's Equity Project | The Children's Equity Project

cep.asu.edu

Rich hispanics perhaps, even that doesn't seem accurate.

White families make up bulk of Texas voucher applicants

Of the almost 275,000 students who applied for vouchers, 45% are white and 75% attended a private school or home-school in 2024-25, final numbers show.

www.texastribune.org

Facts don’t matter

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Hispanic students underrepresented in voucher applications​

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