Discussion about hot topics trending today

[Annoyed]

the silence of the #metoo movement on this one is deafening

Of course it is. It goes against their anti-male agenda.

[Gatefan1976]

And that has as much chance of passing as a blue whale has of flying to Chicago. (We've already had flying pigs thanks to TV ads).

Social security is not known as the 3rd rail of politics for nothing.

You think they are going to ASK you if they can do it?
You get the red wave you want and it -will- happen, and if you think trump will stop it, you are dreaming.
Alternatively, you can have -another- financial crisis instead, and then you get to complain about the next democrat who has to fix the mess the republicans made -again-. That will be even better this time around if you continue having trade wars.

Just for more fun:

[Annoyed]

Old folks vote in large numbers. I don't care if its Republicans or Democrats, if a congresscritter votes to cut SS, they will be an ex-congresscritter after the next election, and they know that.
Critters from BOTH parties have been eyeing SS for decades, but they know better than to do more than talk about it.

[Gatefan1976]

Old folks vote in large numbers. I don't care if its Republicans or Democrats, if a congresscritter votes to cut SS, they will be an ex-congresscritter after the next election, and they know that.
Critters from BOTH parties have been eyeing SS for decades, but they know better than to do more than talk about it.

You are outright delusional, I would suggest some meds, but they are probably not covered by your poor arse plan, and if they were the deductables would be too high.
They NEED to pay for the tax cuts, or just admit that they threw 2 TRILLION dollars in the hole to give their donors a break, and the people they are looking at, is YOU, and around 300 million people like you.
You keep thinking I am coming at you as an adversary, I'm NOT you poor fool, I am telling you the consequences of your actions.
Vote red again, hope that NY turns red, or California, or more heartland states, and when the bubble bursts, and you folks loose everything, just remember that some people tried to warn you.

[Annoyed]

And on this week's episode of "As the Democrats turn"....

A big feature of the Republican's tax plan passed last year was to eliminate federal tax deductions for state level taxes. Of course, high tax hellholes such as NY don't like that idea, because over time, it would force them to cut spending to allow them to cut taxes to more competitive levels, which would of course be beneficial to the working classes who pay those taxes.

But liberals can't have that, so they've been busily coming up with ways to circumvent the new federal tax laws so they can continue to spend like drunken sailors on leave.

And now the feds are going to put an end to those workarounds.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...n-gop-tax-law/

The Treasury Department moved Thursday to prevent states from allowing taxpayers to circumvent the GOP tax law's new cap on state and local tax deductions.

The law passed last fall limited the deduction taxpayers can take on their state and local taxes. Under the new law, taxpayers can take a deduction only on up to $10,000 in payments. Under the previous tax code, there was no cap on state and local tax deductions. The cap will increase tax bills in areas with high taxes, including Democratic-led states such as New York, California and Connecticut.

Several states have approved or are considering plans to let residents get around that cap, including by reclassifying the money they send to the government as charitable contributions instead of tax payments.

But the new rule proposed Thursday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would undermine those state laws. The rule needs further federal review before being finalized.

“Congress limited the deduction for state and local taxes that predominantly benefited high-income earners to help pay for major tax cuts for American families,” Mnuchin said in a statement. “The proposed rule will uphold that limitation by preventing attempts to convert tax payments into charitable contributions.”

[Annoyed]

Cuomo, you're an idiot.

First, I'll say upfront that I don't think Trump should pardon Manafort or Cohen

With that said, however, it seems our incredibly incompetent governor doesn't have a firm grasp on the law of this nation. In addition to the double jeopardy issues discussed in this article, the Constitution forbids ex post facto laws, or enacting laws to cover things retroactively. So whatever they try to do, it's not constitutional to try to apply it to Cohen or Manafort being pardoned.

https://www.newsday.com/news/region-...ump-1.20639323

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday joined a growing call by Democrats to enact a state law that would allow anyone pardoned of crimes by a president to still be subject to prosecution under state law.

But legal experts said that power in state law already applies to the cases of President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

Democrats have accused Trump of abusing his pardon power to influence subjects in investigations of his administration.

Cuomo joined the clamor for the proposal after Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to campaign finance law violations stemming from the 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen in court said Trump had directed him to make hush money payments to two women with the express purpose of "influencing the election.”

Manafort was found guilty Tuesday of federal tax and bank fraud charges.

“If Michael Cohen implicates the president in a crime and the president steps in and pardons Cohen from the crime to stop Cohen from implicating the president, that would be the most obnoxious constitutional situation,” Cuomo said Thursday. “It would be a total aberration of justice. I believe it would be an immediately impeachable offense because it really is an obstruction of justice.”

A Democratic bill in the Senate and Assembly to make all people pardoned by a president subject to state prosecution was introduced in April, but they haven’t moved out of their initial committees since then. The Senate bill doesn’t have a sponsor in the chamber’s Republican majority, which would be required to advance it. The Republican majority didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

A case brought under state law would have to contend with prohibitions under the U.S. Constitution and state constitution against “double jeopardy” — being tried for the same crime twice. However, if a person is pardoned for a federal crime, state prosecutors may argue that they weren’t convicted of any identical state crime, so they would still be subject to enforcement of state law, supporters of the measure have argued.

[Gatefan1976]

Double Jeopardy via the 5th only relates to -specific- crimes, in fact, many states already allow it via charging similar, but not exact crimes. There are also many other ways around double jeopardy.
What Cuomo was speaking to however was not "double jeopardy" at all.
What he is talking about is pardoning the initial crime, therefore making any further charges against others somehow unchargeable because the first crime was pardoned for that individual.
In short, he wants to allow your boss to stay free, after he directed you to commit a crime, but if your boss says it's ok, you can't charge the boss.
I believe the Neuranburg trials are full of the same "defence".

[Annoyed]

Double Jeopardy via the 5th only relates to -specific- crimes, in fact, many states already allow it via charging similar, but not exact crimes. There are also many other ways around double jeopardy.
What Cuomo was speaking to however was not "double jeopardy" at all.
What he is talking about is pardoning the initial crime, therefore making any further charges against others somehow unchargeable because the first crime was pardoned for that individual.
In short, he wants to allow your boss to stay free, after he directed you to commit a crime, but if your boss says it's ok, you can't charge the boss.
I believe the Neuranburg trials are full of the same "defence".

I didn't even pay much attention to the double jeopardy issue. It's minor compared to the "no ex post facto" issue. Cuomo & the Democrats want NY to pass a law that can be applied retroactively to prevent Trump from pardoning them (Trump can't pardon for a state offense). That is a clear violation of the Constitution.

[SoulReaver]

in the US(SR) the commonfolk's constitutional rights are violated all the time but when it happens to the Elites then all of a sudden it's unacceptable

[Gatefan1976]

I didn't even pay much attention to the double jeopardy issue. It's minor compared to the "no ex post facto" issue. Cuomo & the Democrats want NY to pass a law that can be applied retroactively to prevent Trump from pardoning them (Trump can't pardon for a state offense). That is a clear violation of the Constitution.

Re read it, cause that's not what he said.

[aretood2]

I didn't even pay much attention to the double jeopardy issue. It's minor compared to the "no ex post facto" issue. Cuomo & the Democrats want NY to pass a law that can be applied retroactively to prevent Trump from pardoning them (Trump can't pardon for a state offense). That is a clear violation of the Constitution.

You and I apparently did not read the same thing...

[Annoyed]

Re read it, cause that's not what he said.

As I said, I don't care what the idiot in Albany said, there is a bigger consideration.

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedict...ost+Facto+Laws

Ex post facto laws retroactively change the rules of evidence in a criminal case, retroactively alter the definition of a crime, retroactively increase the punishment for a criminal act, or punish conduct that was legal when committed. They are prohibited by Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, of the U.S. Constitution. An ex post facto law is considered a hallmark of tyranny because it deprives people of a sense of what behavior will or will not be punished and allows for random punishment at the whim of those in power.

Cuomo and the dimbulbocrats want to change the law to render a pardon of Cohen and Manafort irrelevant by changing state laws after the fact. Constitution says they can't do that. Game over.

[aretood2]

As I said, I don't care what the idiot in Albany said, there is a bigger consideration.

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedict...ost+Facto+Laws



Cuomo and the dimbulbocrats want to change the law to render a pardon of Cohen and Manafort irrelevant by changing state laws after the fact. Constitution says they can't do that. Game over.

But that's not what they said...

[Gatefan1976]

But that's not what they said...

No, they didn't.

[Coco Pops]

But that's not what they said...

But according to Annoyed that's what they said.