Thanks to the efforts of the New York State Attorney General, Trump was forced to close down his “foundation,” which he had used to pay debts for his businesses and to buy a $10,000 painting of himself.
This week, a judge ordered Trump to pay a fine of $2 million for failing to carry out his fiduciary duty for faithful administration of the foundation funds.
Trump responded by lying.
But in a statement tweeted out late Thursday, Trump seemed to play down the settlement he had just agreed to — saying, in spite of the failures he had just acknowledged, that the foundation’s money was spent properly and the lawsuit was politically motivated.
“All they found was incredibly effective philanthropy and some small technical violations, such as not keeping board minutes,” he wrote.
Not keeping board minutes does it produce a fine of $2 million not cause the foundation to close.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think Trump, in his pathology, is thinking that he can fool all of the people all of the time. But of course, he can’t. However, it seems he CAN fool some of the people all of the time. So in a democracy, the question becomes: HOW MANY? CBK
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Trump is scum and he knows it.
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Trump is “PROUD” of being scum. Calling him scum is like hanging a Medal of Honor around his neck.
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Bombshell report: In rally speech, Trump inadvertently told truth on one occasion, describing the color of the tie he was wearing as red.
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I considered making a list, here, of the lawsuits and criminal actions that Trump faces once he leaves the presidency, but I doubt that the WordPress servers would have sufficient memory capacity for it, there are other things I expect to do with the rest of my life, and it would be entirely historical and moot upon completion. The impeachment proceeding and the coming election are extremely important to histories dumbest president, Don the Con. Staying in the Offal Office in the Whiter House is his only way of staying out of prison, and an orange jumpsuit on him would be just too matchy matchy.
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cx: history’s, ofc
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Every time Trump lies at one of his rallies or with one of his tweets he should be held in contempt by a judge and fined a minimum of $100k each time. If he doesn’t pay, the courts confiscate his golf courses, hotels, and other properties.
For instance, when Trump hit 12,000 lies, he would have been fined a total of $1.2 billion dollars
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Slightly off-topic, but the Steele “dossier” came up a while back and some were arguing that it’s been verified. Please. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/christopher-steele-britain-insanity-909539/
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And continuing the story: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/steele-dossier-iraq-wmds-910172/
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As it typical, you set up a straw man to knock down in order to change the subject here — the subject being the total corruption of the man you kept insisting was absolutely no worse than the evil and corrupt Democrats. I just don’t understand why you can’t just admit you made a mistake in 2016 instead of trying to justify it by insisting that poor innocent “orange haired” Trump is a bit of an oaf but those lying and corrupt and criminal democrats keep trying to say that Trump has actually done something improper and illegal when he hasn’t.
Remember, Trump and the Republicans use typical right wing propaganda tactics — they accuse their opponents of doing the nasty things that they themselves are doing.
And it is interesting that someone who keeps repeating that the Mueller Report totally exonerated Trump is accusing Trump’s critics of lying about Trump.
Trump’s corrupt Foundation was so criminal that it believed that it could spend its money to enrich the Trumps instead of giving it to veterans or anyone else who needed it. What kind of person is so greedy that they look at how they can spend the money their charity earned to enrich themselves? Who does that? And what kind of person still believes that by defending this person against what they keep insisting are completely false criticisms by corrupt and evil Democrats they are somehow doing good. I no longer believe anyone except a true believe in the far right agenda could do that.
In short, do you think Trump’s Foundation is corrupt and do you think there is something really wrong with a man who would use money from his foundation to hold events at his properties and buy portraits of himself to hang in his property?
I don’t think you do. I haven’t heard you actually express any belief that Trump is a corrupt, dishonest self-dealing President who should be in jail, not empowered to use this country’s resources to do whatever makes him happy.
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Some inconvenient facts about the poor victimized Trump’s charitable endeavor (quotes from a Wash Post article):
“Trump had used the charity’s money to make a $25,000 donation to a political committee associated with then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R). Charities are prohibited from making political gifts.”
Hey, Biondi’s office was investigating Trump University at the time, and she needed some incentive to drop it. That sounds like a good use of charitable funds because after all, what’s more charitable than helping quash anything that makes the guy who will defeat the evil, corrupt Democrats look dishonest?
And, fyi, Trump just hired Biondi to join his impeachment team to save him from the evil Democrats who are just trying to get him based on false pretenses!! Next she’ll probably be on the Supreme Court for a lifetime!
“Trump had taken more than $250,000 from the charity to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses.”
“Trump had used the charity to buy things for himself, including a helmet signed by former pro football player Tim Tebow, and a large painting of himself that was later hung on the wall of Trump’s Doral golf resort in Miami.”
But here, dienne77, maybe you can point to this that completely “exonerates” Trump just as the Mueller Report completely “exonerated” Trump because you insist there was not one shred of evidence of his campaign’s contacts with Russia being anything other than upright and honest!!
“At the time, a Trump campaign spokesman named Boris Epshteyn said the arrangement regarding the painting was proper. Doral, he said, was actually doing the Trump Foundation a favor by storing the charity’s art collection on its wall.”
That sounds really believable, don’t you think?!! After all, it sounds just as believable as the idea that Donnie Jr. gets to order Paul Manafort around to attend meetings in Trump Tower without his dad’s knowledge. Yep, that sounds pretty believable too, especially if you are absolutely certain the meetings are about “Russian adoptions” because that’s what Trump said they were about.
I mean, who would a normal person believe, the truthful Donald Trump, or the lying, corrupt Democrats?
Still waiting for any statement from you that acknowledges Trump is a corrupt, dishonest man who NEEDS to be investigated, not enabled by folks who believe that it is the investigators who are the real corrupt ones trying to “get” Donald Trump, who should always get the benefit of the doubt as being an honorable man who never would act corruptly to serve his own interests.
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And let’s not forget that millions of dollars that were donated to pay for Trump’s inaugural celebrations back in 2016 can not be accounted for.
“How Trump’s inaugural committee spent the record $107 million worth of donations to celebrate his election
President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised the most of any newly elected president: a whopping $107 million. For comparison, Pre President Barack Obama’s inaugural committee raised $53 million.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-trumps-inaugural-committee-spent-107-million-worth-of-donations-2019-1
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Yes, Trump’s corruption needs to be thoroughly investigated. It has not been. Instead you get whiners who complain that Trump is being unfairly targeted because a Republican did a very limited investigation. If Trump received anything like the investigation Ken Starr did on “Whitewater” — where Starr’s team went around the country for years and subpoenaed anyone they wanted and witnesses had to comply or he threw them in jail — the amount of evidence revealed would be truly astonishing. Trump refuses to release his tax return, let alone allow anyone to testify.
Bill Clinton (and HRC) were more thoroughly investigated than any people in recent history, and that investigation was done by known partisans who were given unlimited money, time, and subpoena power to find anything – anything! – that could be used to smear them.
And those investigations revealed: an affair that didn’t include sexual intercourse and “e-mails”. It seems that Bill and HRC are likely one of the more honest politicians in recent history!
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https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/06/23/donald-trump-rape-lawsuit/
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Bob not sure what this was in response to, but, yup. As a former NYC denizen I was nonplussed to find this dreck long associated w/shady side of celebrity & enterprise, later partially reconstituted as shock-pundit & ‘reality’TV creature, find support as a pres candidate. As to the case in point, I am inspired to sub for SDP:
He walks in miasma of sleaze
Raised off him in Manhattan breeze
He lies down with canines for Z’s
Surprise! he wakes up with fleas.
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“In reality, the board did not meet at all for 19 straight years, from 1999 to 2018.”
What kind of charity group/foundation has a board that never meets?
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What kind of charity makes a $25,000 donation to the campaign of an Attorney General whose office just happens to be investigating Trump University? Anyone think a lot of charity executives met and said “who needs this money that we can help? I know, Pam Biondi, who just happens to be investigating our boss’ fake University that’s been swindling veterans for years.”
Can you imagine how it works? Something like Trump saying “hey jr. and Ivanka and whatever my other son’s name is, I need money to make that Trump University investigation in Florida go away and i want to use my foundation’s money.” “Okay dad, whatever you want.”
And then the absurd “defense”: “we are much too dumb to know that you can’t use the charity’s money that way!” Talk about white privilege — the fact that kind of reasoning can be used to break the law is truly astonishing to me.
It’s shocking these people aren’t in jail. The absurdity of “I didn’t know it was wrong” being the excuse for enriching yourself using foundation money is beyond my understanding.
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How can Trump get away with such blatantly bad behavior? It must be awfully difficult to work for someone whose minds twists in such knots. One day someone is a great American and then, when he doesn’t bow, he isn’t remembered. I guess Sondland should be glad that he wasn’t labeled a filthy name. Maybe that is coming in the future.
Trump Tweet on Sondland:
One month ago Sondland is “a really good man and great American.”
On Friday: “I hardly knew the gentleman.”
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A few years ago during or after the 2016 election, I read an interview with two of Trump’s former lawyers.
The lawyers said that whenever they met with Trump, they never went alone and the minute the meeting was over, the two lawyers would write notes about the meeting and compare those notes to see if they got all the details right. They also said they knew that Trump was notorious for lying and not paying his bills, including paying his lawyers what he agreed to pay them.
With Trump, the lawyers said, everything had to be in writing and witnessed and even then it would be an uphill fight if Trump did an about-face on what he wanted done or her refused to pay what he had agreed to pay.
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Yeah, and like everyone else these days, he hardly knew Epstein.
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Actually, saying he hardly knows anybody is probably true. He is only capable of focusing on himself.
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Truth that
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People are only useful to him as long as they are carrying out his wishes.
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Here is one more off topic horror. Middle class people with health insurance are being sued by hospitals to pay bills they can’t afford. Medicare for All and stop this nonsense. I read that currently 56% of doctors are in favor of single payer/Medicare for All but that the AMA is still against it.
…………………..
With Medical Bills Skyrocketing, More Hospitals Are Suing for Payment
As deductibles and co-pays grow, insured patients owe a larger share of their medical bills. More and more are being taken to court.
…“There is this new group of people who, on paper, look like they should be able to afford their bills,” said Craig Antico, founder of the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which buys and forgives outstanding bills. “They’re middle-class, they have relatively good credit ratings, they’re not transient. But they have these big deductibles, and they can’t afford their bills.”
From Delaware to Oregon, hospitals across the country are increasingly suing patients for unpaid bills, a step many institutions were long unwilling to take.
In some places, major hospitals now file hundreds or even thousands of lawsuits annually. Those cases strain court systems and often end in wage garnishments for patients.
In Milwaukee, for example, a nonprofit children’s hospital has sued 1,101 patients since the beginning of 2018 — more cases than it brought in the entire previous decade. The city’s only top-level trauma center filed 2,074 suits last year, more than double the prior year’s number.
And some of the country’s most prominent academic hospitals, including Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and NewYork-Presbyterian, also have sued more patients in recent years…
A cashier at a Providence Health hospital in Oregon reported having wages garnished for outstanding medical debt to her own employer. For one paycheck for 80 hours of work, she took home 54 cents after a garnishment and other deductions.
Wage seizures have led patients to sign up for public assistance programs, fall behind on bills, give up their insurance and take on credit card debt, according to interviews.
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It never ends with the loyal rock-headed GOP. The whistle blower has NO reason to appear before the House since people have come afterwards reporting the same facts. Trump has stepped into deep doo-doo and the Repubs are still determined to ‘save his soul’. Horse hockey.
Someone reports a robbery and the person who called is suspect? Doesn’t make sense except to Trump believers. He is ‘the chosen one”.
…………………….
The Washington Post
Democracy Dies in Darkness
News Alert Nov 9, 9:50 AM
House GOP asks for Hunter Biden and whistleblower to testify in impeachment probe — a request that Democrats are expected to reject
In a July 25 call to the Ukrainian leader, President Trump pressed for an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who was on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The whistleblower’s report of the call triggered the impeachment probe.
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What does Hunter Biden have to do with whether the president has committed criminal and impeachable acts?
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Impeachment: how Trump’s hardball tactics put the constitution in peril
Nov. 9. 2019
Summoning the full force of its constitutionally vested powers, Congress last week called 13 witnesses to appear for questioning in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.
Two of them showed up.
Four of the would-be witnesses – the acting White House chief of staff, two senior officials in the budget office and a state department lawyer – failed to appear in spite of congressional subpoenas, as distinct from requests.
A fifth witness, former national security adviser John Bolton, warned that he would reply to any subpoena with a lawsuit.
The story of the Trump presidency is one of repeated power struggles between branches of government and within the executive branch. But the standoff that has developed between the White House and the legislature during the impeachment inquiry, constitutional experts say, is loaded with dangerous potential to upset the balance of power and wreck the ability of Congress to check the president…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/09/trump-impeachment-constitution-congress?CMP=share_btn_link
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“The criminal offense of “contempt of Congress” sets the penalty at not less than one month nor more than twelve months in jail and a fine of not more than $100,000 or less than $100.[4] [17]” …
“Under this process, the procedure for holding a person in contempt involves only the chamber concerned. Following a contempt citation, the person cited is arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms for the House or Senate, brought to the floor of the chamber, held to answer charges by the presiding officer, and then subjected to punishment as the chamber may dictate (usually imprisonment for punishment, imprisonment for coercion, or release from the contempt citation).[10]” …
“Following the refusal of a witness to produce documents or to testify, the Committee is entitled to report a resolution of contempt to its parent chamber. A Committee may also cite a person for contempt but not immediately report the resolution to the floor. In the case of subcommittees, they report the resolution of contempt to the full Committee, which then has the option of rejecting it, accepting it but not reporting it to the floor, or accepting it and reporting it to the floor of the chamber for action. On the floor of the House or the Senate, the reported resolution is considered privileged and, if the resolution of contempt is passed, the chamber has several options to enforce its mandate.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress
If the Democratic majority in the House does not take advantage of that legal power to punish EVERYONE in the Trump administration that defies a subpoena to appear before the House or one of its committees, then the leaders of the Democratic Party are running a fake impeachment inquiry because they do not plan to follow through.
Before the House votes on impeachment, if the Democrats haven’t punished every individual in the Trump administration that defied a subpoena, then the Democrats will end up looking weak and Trump will appear stronger increasing Trump’s odds of being re-elected in 2020.
If I was the House leader, I’d drag out the impeachment inquire to early January 2020, and before the final vote in the House, go after every individual in the Trump Administration that defied a House subpoena — one at a time to take advantage of the stream of front-page headlines and photo ops for each of Trump’s people as they are arrested and end up in jail. I’d also levy the highest fine possible on each one. Then once that circus is over, take the final vote and send the Impeachment process to the Senate.
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Video: Fact-Checking Trump’s Louisiana Rally
In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines six claims President Donald Trump made during a campaign rally in Monroe, Louisiana, on Nov. 6.
https://www.factcheck.org/2019/11/video-fact-checking-trumps-louisiana-rally/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug
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You can purchase a resurrection seed for only $1,144 from an Evangelical charlatan who supports Trump. What a deal!!!
“Lord, Let Your Arm Strengthen Trump”: A Televangelist Is on White House Payroll
November 9, 2019
Then the Lord said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries, and the delusions of their own minds.’
— Jeremiah 14:14
At the beginning of the month, it was announced that Trump was putting Florida “prosperity gospel” televangelist Paula White on the White House payroll as a religious adviser in the Office of Public Liaison. Her job will be to help corral the support of other evangelicals, who already support Trump to the tune of 71 percent and would probably still vote for him even if God personally denounced him on an episode of The 700 Club.
The choice of White is a strange one if courting evangelicals is actually the game plan. White’s “prosperity gospel,” which places God and personal wealth on the same spiritual platform, is anathema to many evangelical Christians. “Paula White is a charlatan and recognized as a heretic by every orthodox Christian, of whatever tribe,” argued Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore in 2016.
Trump and White have known each other for years, and the two even had plans as far back as 2006 to build a giant crystal megachurch together. In the realm of brazen hucksterism, they are a matched set: In 2016, White spent Easter Sunday peddling “resurrection seeds” to her flock at the New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida. Supplicants could obtain eternal life by purchasing one of these seeds for a fee of $1,144…
Check out this article: https://truthout.org/articles/lord-let-your-arm-strengthen-trump-a-televangelist-is-on-white-house-payroll/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=mashshare&utm_campaign=mashshare
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GOP politicians have also already started to attack Warren over her Medicare for All plan.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday that Warren’s proposal was “breathtaking.”
“In order to take away employer-sponsored insurance from 180 million Americans, Democrats want to kill American jobs and bring the economy to a screeching halt,” McConnell said.
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If the jobs that Moscow Mitch says would be killed are in the medical insurance industry, I say good riddance.
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This makes a lot of sense. Don’t listen to testimonials or read any transcripts because it will distort your thinking. Sounds like the Republican mind. Facts never matter because my mind is made up. There is a lot of that going around.
………………………………………….
As Washington gears up this week for the public phase of the impeachment inquiry, one group is largely tuning it out: Senate Republicans.Several GOP senators say they either won’t watch the highly anticipated public hearings or haven’t been reading the steady release of transcripts from the House’s closed-door depositions with current and former administration officials.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who was in office for former President Clinton’s impeach trial, said he wouldn’t be watching the hearings and that doing so “could prejudice my view” once the case reaches the Senate.“…
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) added that he also wouldn’t be watching, calling the House process a “sham.”“It’s being driven by political people,” he said. “I think this is a bunch of crap in the House.”
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Many experienced people in the State Department quit after Trump’s inability to lead. Good for them for rallying around and supporting Yavanovitch. I’m sure Trump will start screaming.
………………………….
How the State Dept.’s Dissenters Incited a Revolt, Then a Rallying Cry
Shock, anger and sadness are giving way to pride among career diplomats that they are defending American ideals and holding the Trump administration accountable.
WASHINGTON — State Department Foreign Service officers usually express their views in formal diplomatic cables, but these days they are using closed Facebook groups and encrypted apps to convey their pride in Marie L. Yovanovitch, the ousted ambassador to Ukraine, whose House testimony opened the floodgates on the impeachment inquiry into President Trump….
Rarely has the State Department, often seen as a staid pillar of the establishment, been the center of a revolt against a president and his top appointees. But as a parade of department officials has recounted to lawmakers how policy was hijacked by partisan politics, many career diplomats say they have been inspired by their colleagues’ willingness to stand up to far more powerful voices after nearly three years of being ignored or disparaged by Mr. Trump and those he has chosen to lead the department….
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Trump is happy to clean out all thee perience senior officials at State.
Remember Steve Bannon said he wanted to “destroy the administrative State”?
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I was disheartened to see the cheering-for-Trump at the Alabama game. They DO have it in their background the desire to secede from the Union. CBK
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This will give the people of NYC a chance to boo him. Let this ignoramus know that he isn’t wanted. [He is the first president to participate in this parade. I really hope he gets booed.]
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Veterans Day Parade: Trump, After Snubbing N.Y.C., Will Return
The president is going to help kick off the Veterans Day Parade on Monday, the first president to do so.
President Trump may have officially declared himself a permanent Florida resident, but he keeps returning to his hometown.
On Monday, Mr. Trump will be kicking off the 100th annual New York City Veterans Day Parade at Madison Square Park in Manhattan, the event organizers announced on Wednesday. He will be the first president to participate in the parade.
Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular in the city and his visits are often met with protests. On Saturday, Mr. Trump popped into Manhattan for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at Madison Square Garden. The reaction when he arrived: loud boos, and some cheers.
The president will give an address at the park. He had been slated to lay a wreath at the Eternal Light Flagstaff memorial inside the park, the traditional site of the city’s Veterans Day ceremony but the White House decided that he would not after all, according to a parade spokesman, Pat Smith…
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How about that: A Russian operative from the White House honoring War Veterans in a parade. CBK
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Catherine King: I’m surprised that Trump doesn’t want the full Kim Jong Un regalia to honor himself…marching soldiers, tanks, military bands, etc. Maybe he only saves that thought for the 4th of July.
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Trump said publicly that Putin invited him to the Russian military celebration on May 1, and he may go.
Remember when the Republicans hated the Soviets? Trump loves them, especially Putin, who has a strange hold over Donald.
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IsTrump a veteran? Of what?
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Thre are two definitions of “veteran”.
Trump is a veteran of attending Epstein’s orgy parties, a veteran of lying, a veteran of bankruptcies, a veteran of failed businesses, a veteran of fraud. a veteran of cheating on his wives and mistresses, et al.
Definition: noun
noun: veteran; plural noun: veterans
Trump’s particular field is fraud, lies, and cheating.
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Here is more blah from the media that doesn’t want Bernie or Warren.
The Hill:
The worry among centrist Democrats is that the leading moderate in the race, former Vice President Joe Biden, is flawed and faltering, while the two leading progressive alternatives — Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — could be too radical to win a general election.
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I wish we had a Department of Peace. The US is responsible for too much killing and destruction in the world.
…………………
Marianne Williamson:
This letter is from one of you, a campaign supporter. Today we hear from Patrick, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel.
This Veterans Day marks 101 years since the signing of the armistice that ended the carnage of World War I. What does that mean for us?
Wars not only wounds soldiers, but also families.
My father and his brothers served in the Army, Navy and Marines. My grandfather fought in World War I. My cousin was killed in Vietnam.
I signed up for the Army in 1983 and retired in 2016, serving in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. I spent my last 15 years in Army Civil Affairs in service of repairing international relationships in order to stabilize host nation countries.
Bombs and bullets are expensive. For every innocent person who dies in war, dozens upon dozens more of their families and friends foster enmity and hatred towards us as the source of that death. Some of those grieving people become terrorists as a pathway to revenge.
Marianne’s U.S. Department of Peace speaks to me. I have seen too much death — death of people and destruction of nations. Building relationships and bonds with other nations builds our national security, not dropping bombs on them.
I stuttered as a child. I got over it by memorizing and reciting John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address. This line struck me powerfully:
“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.”
We don’t need more tanks or missiles. We need to give aid, investment, food and love where people need it.
I’m not a naive idealist. As a military man, I can tell you, it is realistic. Marianne’s U.S. Department of Peace is exactly what will bring peace to this planet.
Let us work so that our future veterans are not of veterans war and killing, but of efforts to create peace on earth.
Patrick
Lt. Col, U.S. Army, Retired
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
p.s. Note from campaign team: What’s your story about why you support Marianne? Please send to hello@marianne2020.com.
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The poor dears would lose some money if they paid higher taxes. I don’t recall reading about their expansion of happiness over all the money they have made on the Trump/GOP “tax cut for the middle class” which is destroying our deficit. NYT is showing sympathy for the wealthy. “Some economists, including self-identified Democrats, have predicted dire effects on growth, investment and business confidence along with constitutional challenges and administrative nightmares.”
The wealthy don’t need 10 yachts and palaces all over the world. Maybe if they spent part of their fortunes on giving good salaries, decent benefits such as three weeks paid vacation, paid parental leave and good healthcare to their employees I’d be a tiny bit sympathetic to their cause.
Warren is now a target to be destroyed by the corporate media.
………………………………
Warren Would Take Billionaires Down a Few Billion Pegs
Elizabeth Warren’s tax proposals would significantly curb the gigantic fortunes of America’s richest families over time.
Ms. Warren’s wealth tax would kick in at $50 million. Households would pay a 2 percent annual tax on any additional assets, like stocks, jewelry, yachts and homes. For billion-plus fortunes, the marginal rate would climb to 6 percent (up from the 3 percent she initially proposed).
Investment returns, of course, range from devastating losses to eye-popping gains. One benchmark, the S&P 500 stock index, has had an average annual return of about 8 percent over the last 60 years.
So in some cases and some years, multibillionaires could owe the government more than they made in profits. That’s because these taxpayers would be taxed at a 6 percent rate even if their portfolios held, say, Treasury bonds that paid just 2.5 percent.
“The tax rate on capital income at the top could easily exceed 100 percent once the wealth tax is in there,” said Alan Viard, an economist with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research group.
More likely that kind of wealth tax would operate as more of a cap on the number of billions one can amass over a lifetime.
How such taxes would affect the size of the economic pie is also a subject of speculation. Mr. Gates, for example, said at The New York Times’s DealBook conference last Wednesday that he supported “super progressive tax systems” but that it was also important to maintain “the incentive system.”
Some economists, including self-identified Democrats, have predicted dire effects on growth, investment and business confidence along with constitutional challenges and administrative nightmares…
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