Current events discussion

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Not sure where that was headed, lol.

Except state statute, and enforcement thereof, is the domain of the state. At least unless or until it gets privatized.

I think this case is a classic "If you don't want the skeletons in your closet discovered, don't draw attention to your house".
Perhaps if he wasn't such a douchebag all along, nobody would have gone digging and found out he committed fraud to the tune of $355 million dollars.

Flying under the radar, even when you are in a position as powerful as POTUS, can be a good move if you want to appear clean.

But in this case NY went looking for a case. It's not like the bank came to NYGA and said "Hey look into this, we've been defrauded." This case was a political witch hunt and the endless parade of court cases on dilutes the seriousness of the 1-2 cases that should actually be in the courts.

 

[RobGMN Premium Member]

Take this for what it's worth, but it looks like his own braggadocio lit the match:
"In Donald Trump's defamation case against TrumpNation author Timothy L. O'Brien, Trump testified in 2007 that "I think everybody" exaggerates their property values and that he did not do so "beyond reason". He said he would give his opinion to Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who "predominately" determined final values, which Trump called "conservative". Regarding one case in which a property increased from $80 million in 2005 to $150 million in 2006, Trump stated, "The property was valued very low, in my opinion, then and it became very—it just has gone up." He was unable to provide a reason for this other than his opinion."
"In February 2019, prompted by U.S. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) asking whether Trump had ever presented inflated assets to an insurance company,[4] former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump "inflated [the organization's] total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes,[a] and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes."[6] Following Cohen's testimony, in March, the New York State Department of Financial Services issued a subpoena to Aon, the organization's longtime insurance broker."

Maybe it WAS a "witch hunt", but who goes hunting for something that they don't think exists?

Thxone accuses me of only being able to use Google or the search function here, and not actually knowing things.
The fault in that argument is that without knowing things and what to be able to look for, I would have to spend a thousand hours looking at random stuff in the hopes of finding something useful.

If anyone here thinks it was pure luck that I found his post where he stated "glass is a liquid" when he tried to play the word-definition game with me regarding steel melting, they would be wrong. I remembered the whole "glass is a liquid discussion" and remembered him making the claim.
From there, it was a quick search to find it.

Now, aside from Trump saying stupid sh*t in public, what really set things in motion was when Michael Cohen testified in court as to what was going on.
The can of worms was opened in that hearing, and the investigation resulted from it.
"On Wednesday, when New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her $250m civil lawsuit against former president Donald Trump, she specifically cited former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony in 2019, when he revealed that the former president fraudulently inflated the value of his assets."
“I will remind everyone that this investigation only started after Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, his former lawyer, testified before Congress and shed light on this misconduct,” she said.

How AOC inadvertently sparked the New York attorney general’s Trump lawsuit

‘This investigation only started after Michael Cohen ... testified before Congress shed light on this misconduct,’ Letitia James says

www.independent.co.uk

And lets not forget that this was a financial fraud involving not only the banks, but there was also conviction on 17 counts of tax fraud. A self-proclaimed septabillionaire (made that up) President, who cheats on taxes and lies to the banks to get money. Cool.

Let me ask this: If an attorney for Biden stated in court the day after his inauguration that he had done the same thing that Trump did, do you think he (Biden) would be given a pass and told to just enjoy life because "no harm, no foul"?

Anyone answering that question would be an absolute liar if they said yes.
For f*ck sake, Republicans want to throw Biden in jail because Hunter (who is not even a government employee) does drugs and bangs hookers.
Which is really ironic because Trump did drugs and paid hush money to a hooker.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Ahh, yes, communists trying to rewrite history.

 

[RobGMN Premium Member]

Still didn't answer my initial question? Are you blaming Biden for diesel prices?

The main causes of inflation (in order) is because global supply dropped when global demand dropped during the pandemic, then the Fed & other Central Banks slashed rates and participated in unprecedented quantitative easing and govt's pumped unprecedented amounts of deficit spending. POTUS only had influence on of those 3 major causes - deficit spending. Any guess on which POTUS maxed out deficit spending?

Federal Surplus or Deficit [-] as Percent of Gross Domestic Product

Graph and download economic data for Federal Surplus or Deficit [-] as Percent of Gross Domestic Product (FYFSGDA188S) from 1929 to 2025 about budget, federal, GDP, and USA.

fred.stlouisfed.org

Federal budget balance in the U.S. 2025| Statista

In 2025, the United States ran a budget deficit of roughly **** trillion U.S.

www.statista.com

Without looking at your charts, my guess was Trump.
I found a chart that says I get chicken dinner.
I wonder how long before someone cries "outlier" as a way to say Trump gets a free pass.

I LOVE quotes like that.
Holding people accountable when they break the law, and punishing them. "Destroying lives", lol.
I guess we should stop destroying so many lives and just let people get away with breaking the law...

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Without looking at your charts, my guess was Trump.
I found a chart that says I get chicken dinner.
I wonder how long before someone cries "outlier" as a way to say Trump gets a free pass.
View attachment 56908






View attachment 56909
I LOVE quotes like that.
Holding people accountable when they break the law, and punishing them. "Destroying lives", lol.
I guess we should stop destroying so many lives and just let people get away with breaking the law...

Oh, you mean like Hunter Biden avoiding taxes?

Joe Biden's DOJ interfering in his son's IRS investigation:

"The purge allegedly was done on the orders of the Justice Department, the whistleblower’s attorneys informed congressional leaders in a letter."

"Hunter, 53, is under investigation for not paying taxes on millions in largely foreign-sourced income."

Exclusive | IRS removes investigative team from Hunter Biden probe in move whistleblower calls ‘clearly retaliatory’

The IRS on Monday removed the “entire investigative team” from its long-running tax fraud probe of first son Hunter Biden in alleged retaliation against a whistleblower who alleged a co…

nypost.com

I mean this is classic mafia bullshit. The big guy says no investigation into Hunter Biden, you know? Should he be punished for evading taxes, Rob? You know, holding people accountable and all that?

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Engoron said Trump was guilty before the trial happened? Can you provide proof of that?
Why did Trump's attorneys not know this, and you do? They could have had the judge tossed and another one take his place. or they could push for mistrial.
Judges aren't allowed to do that.
But yes, I am very interested in seeing proof.

Trump committed a thing called financial fraud. When you misrepresent financial information related directly to business loans, you are breaking the law. It doesn't matter if in the end "nobody was hurt" or "everybody won", or even if the banks stated "there was no fraud".
The banks are not the arbiter of state statute, and do not get to decide that the falsification of info was fraud or not. That's not how law works in this country.

Afraid of Trump? I sincerely doubt that. Afraid of how badly he'd f*ck up this time if got into officve again? More likely.

I will admit if he was wrongly accused if you could show me ANY "wrongful" accusations.
I'm all about proof, and I would be happy if you posted any that you may have regarding the "wrongful" accusations.

There are five primary metrics of a good economy. Employment, Discretionary income, CPI, GDP, Consumer spending.
Unemployment peaked at 14.8% in 2020, and was at 6.8% when Trump left office. It was 3.5% when he took office. it has steadily declined from Trump's 6.8% since Biden took office, and is now at 3.7%.
Biden 1, Trump 0
Discretionary income was at $15K under Trump, surged for a few weeks to $18K, then quickly settled back to $16K. After Biden took office, it surged to $20K, then settled back down to $16K and is now at $17K.
Biden 2, Trump 0
CPI was at $257.91 in 2020. It is now $308.00. That is a 19% increase. There is no average wage data out for 2023 that I can find yet, so I do not know if wage growth kept up. I can tell you that "In January 2024, inflation amounted to 3.1 percent, while wages grew by five percent." Wage growth exceeding inflation is a win, BUT:
SCORE TO BE DETERMINED.
GDP was at $20.93 Trillion in 2020. At EOY 2020 it was at $27.36 Trillion
Biden 3, Trump 0
Consumer Spending was $15.6K in 2020 and $17K at EOY 2023. Real disposable income peaked at $16.4K in 2020. It was $17K at EOY 2023.
Biden 4, Trump 0

The final score rests on how much the average wages were in 2023, but we've got 4 out of 5 metrics showing better under Biden.

This was asked before, and I asked for a definition of "stronger", which no one could provide. I then said that I considered the economy as the indicator of our "strength", and then I went on to detail WHY. I did it again in the paragraphs above.
And those numbers are not beli0efs or feeling or opinions. They are economic data gathered and disseminated by the same sources now as in years past.
Any stupid attempt to say they are faked (like Thxone would try) will be rebutted with a request to prove the fakery, and explain the why and how it's only happened NOW.

Do they know anyhting about the economy? How would they dispute the numbers above? Would they say something like "I don't believe it" or "I don't care".
Sadly, it's obvious how many people actually analyze things that way, and just follow their beliefs. Totally in disregard of facts.
Did you know that ~93% of people polled BELIEVE they have better driving skill than the median driver?

Most people didn't understand it the last time, so I'll explain: The median is the MIDDLE. The point where half the group is above and have the group is below something.
In a group of 101 people, 50% will be above the median skill level.
Yet in that same group, 93 people will believe they are above the median skill level.

Mathematically impossible, but why let facts get in the way of beliefs? Right?


I don't share my beliefs with regard to arguing this stuff. I leave that for guys like Buck, Yournamehere, Thxone, etc.
"This border crap"? No, I'M not the guy who refuses to accept that the current border crisis started under Trump.
I think the claim made was that the huge surge that happened during his administration was just an "outlier" and we should not consider Trump as responsible, but we SHOULD consider Biden responsible for the influx, even though the arrests and deportations have outstripped the ones under Trump by a LONG shot.
There was no explanation as to why a surge under Trump is an "outlier" but it's not an "outlier" under Biden.
That seems lopsided and perhaps a bit biased.

If you want to argue beliefs, tell me what flavor of ice cream is "best".
If you want to argue things like the economy, melting temps of steel, violation of law, the existence of laws, bone innervation, historical prices of common goods, etc, then come to the game with cold hard facts.

We can compare the facts and easily see where they land.




So you refuse to tell me what your ACTUAL question is, but then you will complain I am not answering you.
You are literally worse than a goddamn spoiled 5 year old child.

I guess this is SEVEN times now?
"Pick a month or five, I'll tell you exactly what you want to know.
But a few tidbits:
In 2019 the national real average price of gas was $3.08-$3.11 per gallon. Today in MY region, it's around $2.73, but the national average for last month was $3.08.
The average real price of gas in the US for 2015 was $3.21. In 2016 it was $2.82
And before you get stupid with your argument (like you tried with the beef discussion), all prices are averages for pump gas, not racing fuel one year, but ethanol-mix another year"
What words confused you? "pick"? "month"? "tell"?
Or did you get lost when they were all bunched up crazy-like in a sentence?

You might have blurry vision today. so, I'll say it again:
"Pick a month or five, I'll tell you exactly what you want to know."

THE DATA ABOVE SAYS YOU ARE ONCE AGAIN WRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS.
IF YOU WANTED A DIFFERENT DATA REFERENCE POINT, THEN SPEAK UP AND SAY WHICH ONES. IF YOU ARE UNABLE OR DON'T UNDERSTAND THE REQUEST, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE THE CHAT AND HAVE A GROWNUP OR YOUR BABYSITTER EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. IT MAY BE AN INDICATION THAT THE ALCOHOL IS HAVING PERMANENT DELETERIOUS EFFECTS ON TH BRAIN CELLS, IF ANY, THAT YOU HAVE LEFT.

Still dodging the direct question. Yes, even this verifiable chart shows it was better in Minnesota for Rob when Trump was President.

 

[RobGMN Premium Member]

Oh, you mean like Hunter Biden avoiding taxes?

Joe Biden's DOJ interfering in his son's IRS investigation:

"The purge allegedly was done on the orders of the Justice Department, the whistleblower’s attorneys informed congressional leaders in a letter."

"Hunter, 53, is under investigation for not paying taxes on millions in largely foreign-sourced income."

Exclusive | IRS removes investigative team from Hunter Biden probe in move whistleblower calls ‘clearly retaliatory’

The IRS on Monday removed the “entire investigative team” from its long-running tax fraud probe of first son Hunter Biden in alleged retaliation against a whistleblower who alleged a co…

nypost.com

I mean this is classic mafia bullshit. The big guy says no investigation into Hunter Biden, you know? Should he be punished for evading taxes, Rob? You know, holding people accountable and all that?

Exactly. You are upset about Hunter, and want to crush Joe for his actions, and for the "alleged" actions of the Justice Department.
What evidence do we have, and when did the IRS fall under the purview of the DOJ?
Give us the proof of what happened.

As for Trump, we have the proof of what happened, and it resulted in 18 convictions with an actual dollar figure.
If you want to go after Biden, then THAT is how you do it.
Not with conspiracy theories, allegations, complaints of dark-state secrecy. Especially not when you are going to tell us for years that he is thoroughly inept, and incapable of even sending a tweet.

If you want to run with allegations, let's talk about Fred trump and his ties to the KKK (where he got arrested at a rally) and the Nazis (he IS German, you know). I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree, huh?

Pick a lane. Is he an evil genius, or Corky from Life Goes On? Can't be both.

Still dodging the direct question. Yes, even this verifiable chart shows it was better in Minnesota for Rob when Trump was President.

View attachment 56921

At this point, we have to think you are completely retarded and not just being intentionally obtuse to be a f*cking ****ole.

I guess this is NINE times now?
SEVEN times you won't tell me your question, yet cry like a child that I am "dodging the direct question".

"Pick a month or five, I'll tell you exactly what you want to know.
But a few tidbits:
In 2019 the national real average price of gas was $3.08-$3.11 per gallon. Today in MY region, it's around $2.73, but the national average for last month was $3.08.
The average real price of gas in the US for 2015 was $3.21. In 2016 it was $2.82
And before you get stupid with your argument (like you tried with the beef discussion), all prices are averages for pump gas, not racing fuel one year, but ethanol-mix another year"
What words confused you? "pick"? "month"? "tell"?
Or did you get lost when they were all bunched up crazy-like in a sentence?

You might have blurry vision today. so, I'll say it again:
"Pick a month or five, I'll tell you exactly what you want to know."

THE DATA ABOVE SAYS YOU ARE ONCE AGAIN WRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS.
IF YOU WANTED A DIFFERENT DATA REFERENCE POINT, THEN SPEAK UP AND SAY WHICH ONES. IF YOU ARE UNABLE OR DON'T UNDERSTAND THE REQUEST, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE THE CHAT AND HAVE A GROWNUP OR YOUR BABYSITTER EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. IT MAY BE AN INDICATION THAT THE ALCOHOL IS HAVING PERMANENT DELETERIOUS EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN CELLS, IF ANY, THAT YOU HAVE LEFT.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Without looking at your charts, my guess was Trump.
I found a chart that says I get chicken dinner.
I wonder how long before someone cries "outlier" as a way to say Trump gets a free pass.
View attachment 56908

Let me be first - it's an outlier. 2020-2022/3 are pretty much outliers and we'll be seeing the impact of Covid for years to come.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

At this point, we have to think you are completely retarded and not just being intentionally obtuse to be a f*cking ****ole.

I guess this is NINE times now?
SEVEN times you won't tell me your question, yet cry like a child that I am "dodging the direct question".

"Pick a month or five, I'll tell you exactly what you want to know.
But a few tidbits:
In 2019 the national real average price of gas was $3.08-$3.11 per gallon. Today in MY region, it's around $2.73, but the national average for last month was $3.08.
The average real price of gas in the US for 2015 was $3.21. In 2016 it was $2.82
And before you get stupid with your argument (like you tried with the beef discussion), all prices are averages for pump gas, not racing fuel one year, but ethanol-mix another year"
What words confused you? "pick"? "month"? "tell"?
Or did you get lost when they were all bunched up crazy-like in a sentence?

You might have blurry vision today. so, I'll say it again:
"Pick a month or five, I'll tell you exactly what you want to know."

THE DATA ABOVE SAYS YOU ARE ONCE AGAIN WRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS.
IF YOU WANTED A DIFFERENT DATA REFERENCE POINT, THEN SPEAK UP AND SAY WHICH ONES. IF YOU ARE UNABLE OR DON'T UNDERSTAND THE REQUEST, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE THE CHAT AND HAVE A GROWNUP OR YOUR BABYSITTER EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. IT MAY BE AN INDICATION THAT THE ALCOHOL IS HAVING PERMANENT DELETERIOUS EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN CELLS, IF ANY, THAT YOU HAVE LEFT.

You know the question and you are avoiding it. You keep posting this crap which has NOTHING to do with my question to you. You aren't fooling anyone by acting like you have no clue suddenly. You're the smartest guy on here remember, you have the right answer for everything.

IN MINNESOTA, WERE GAS PRICES LOWER UNDER TRUMP, OBAMA OR BIDEN DURING THEIR PRESIDENCIES????

The question is the same, now it is in all capitols. Will you dodge it again?

I know you want to be able to select specific days of the month so you can average them in your favor but I gave you the time frame to average from. Grow a pair Rob, tell the truth... for once.

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

Still dodging the direct question. Yes, even this verifiable chart shows it was better in Minnesota for Rob when Trump was President.

View attachment 56921

Twisting the facts again?? The judge made a "summary judgement" which was legal and agreed upon by both sides!!!!! Trump's legal team agreed to have a Judge decide the case. They waived their right to a jury trial. The only reason for the trial was to decide the size of the penalty. Trump pushed the false narrative during a press conference after the judgement, that the judge had decided he was guilty before the trial. ANOTHER LIE, and his MEGA minions believed him. No surprise there.

Many still believe he had nothing to do with the January 6 attempt to thwart the election results. Still no surprise!!!! It reminds me of sheep following the goat. If the goat walks off a cliff, the sheep follow. Unfortunately for the sheep, many are serving or face time in Federal prison. All of this is fueled by his Narcissist personality and his big lie that the election was stolen. It's almost funny, that his followers believe him. HE LOST!!!!!!!!! All of the charts and graphs on earth will not change history. He is forever enshrined in the history books as the person who tried to stop the certification of election results; by leading a violent insurrection at the capital building. WHAT AN HONOR!!!!!!

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

Some are twisting the facts again?? The judge made a "summary judgement" which was legal and agreed upon by both sides!!!!! Trump's legal team agreed to have a Judge decide the case. They waived their right to a jury trial. The only reason for the trial was to decide the size of the penalty. Trump pushed the false narrative during a press conference after the judgement, that the judge had decided he was guilty before the trial. ANOTHER LIE, and his MEGA minions believe him. No surprise there.

Many still believe he had nothing to do with the January 6 attempt to thwart the election results. Still no surprise!!!! It reminds me of sheep following the goat. If the goat walks off a cliff, the sheep follow. Unfortunately for the sheep, many are serving or face time in Federal prison. All of this is fueled by his Narcissist personality and his big lie that the election was stolen. It's almost funny, that his followers believe him. HE LOST!!!!!!!!! All of the charts and graphs on earth will not change history. He is forever enshrined in the history books as the person who tried to stop the certification of election results; by leading a violent insurrection at the capitol building. WHAT AN HONOR!!!!!!
Don't forget to put in your order for those ugly $399 athletic shoes he recently showcased.

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

You know the question and you are avoiding it. You keep posting this crap which has NOTHING to do with my question to you. You aren't fooling anyone by acting like you have no clue suddenly. You're the smartest guy on here remember, you have the right answer for everything.

IN MINNESOTA, WERE GAS PRICES LOWER UNDER TRUMP, OBAMA OR BIDEN DURING THEIR PRESIDENCIES????

The question is the same, now it is in all capitols. Will you dodge it again?

I know you want to be able to select specific days of the month so you can average them in your favor but I gave you the time frame to average from. Grow a pair Rob, tell the truth... for once.

Would it have anything to do with Trump's hero Putin, supplying him gas???? After most of the free world decided to stop purchasing gas from the Soviet Union, prices jumped. That's the price we pay for Democracy.

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

Oh, you mean like Hunter Biden avoiding taxes?

Joe Biden's DOJ interfering in his son's IRS investigation:

"The purge allegedly was done on the orders of the Justice Department, the whistleblower’s attorneys informed congressional leaders in a letter."

"Hunter, 53, is under investigation for not paying taxes on millions in largely foreign-sourced income."

Exclusive | IRS removes investigative team from Hunter Biden probe in move whistleblower calls ‘clearly retaliatory’

The IRS on Monday removed the “entire investigative team” from its long-running tax fraud probe of first son Hunter Biden in alleged retaliation against a whistleblower who alleged a co…

nypost.com

I mean this is classic mafia bullshit. The big guy says no investigation into Hunter Biden, you know? Should he be punished for evading taxes, Rob? You know, holding people accountable and all that?

I'm sure that you know all the Hunter Biden stuff was rooted in trying to tie Joe Biden into a scheme of taking bribes. All that effort went south a few days ago, when their #1 informant was charged with lying about the allegation. Turns out he is a double agent for Russia and the US. Did I hear anyone say, "Russian Interference?"
Hunter is a drug addict, who cheated on his taxes, and engaged in suspect business practice. However, it has nothing to do with Joe Biden.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Twisting the facts again?? The judge made a "summary judgement" which was legal and agreed upon by both sides!!!!! Trump's legal team agreed to have a Judge decide the case. They waived their right to a jury trial. The only reason for the trial was to decide the size of the penalty. Trump pushed the false narrative during a press conference after the judgement, that the judge had decided he was guilty before the trial. ANOTHER LIE, and his MEGA minions believed him. No surprise there.

Many still believe he had nothing to do with the January 6 attempt to thwart the election results. Still no surprise!!!! It reminds me of sheep following the goat. If the goat walks off a cliff, the sheep follow. Unfortunately for the sheep, many are serving or face time in Federal prison. All of this is fueled by his Narcissist personality and his big lie that the election was stolen. It's almost funny, that his followers believe him. HE LOST!!!!!!!!! All of the charts and graphs on earth will not change history. He is forever enshrined in the history books as the person who tried to stop the certification of election results; by leading a violent insurrection at the capital building. WHAT AN HONOR!!!!!!

I am talking about gas prices. Are you jumping in just to bash Trump?