It's the sixth version of The Swamp. What could possibly go wrong?
http://www.sportsfrog.net/phpbb/
And Trey Gowdy went off about how horrible the WH was for keeping him on. When pushed, he made it sound like his oversight committee is investigating the WH for having more than 30 staffers still onboard who were not able to get security clearance.Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:00 pm Shock! Horror!
FBI director contradicts official claims about alleged abuser
That's some good stuff right there.DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:35 pm So, a friend is an illustrator and he's had a relatively recent source of artistic inspiration that's been getting some appreciation.
Vivieca Wright Simpson, VA’s third-most-senior official, altered language in an email from an aide coordinating the trip to make it appear that Shulkin was receiving an award from the Danish government, then used the award to justify paying for his wife’s travel, Inspector General Michael J. Missal said in a report released Wednesday. VA paid more than $4,300 for her airfare.
“Although the [inspector general’s office] cannot determine the value VA gained from the Secretary and his delegation’s three and a half days of meetings in Copenhagen and London at a cost of at least $122,334, the investigation revealed serious derelictions by VA personnel,” the watchdog concluded.
Hey, one of Trump's lap dogs managed to do it two years ago (and he was already a lame duck at that point, to go with another animal based descriptor).Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:13 pm But god forbid we raise the gas tax by a penny a mile.
And of course an irony is that a gas tax works in favor of demand for hybrids and electric cars, and against gas guzzlers, to the detriment of Trump's friends at the oil companies. Wonder how Rex Tillerson views this.Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:13 pm Bitching about a possible gas tax is why we can't have nice things.
A gas tax is a no-brainer. In real terms, it has dwindled to about nothing since it was last raised. The price of gas is significantly lower than a few years ago, so it wouldn't hurt that much. And it is logical to have transportation users pay to improve our transportation network. And since our dependence on driving causes so much ill in society, from pollution to Middle East entanglements, anything that disincentivizes driving has important societal benefits.
But god forbid we raise the gas tax by a penny a mile.
And generally hurts the urban elite libtards much less than his own constituents.sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:27 pmAnd of course an irony is that a gas tax works in favor of demand for hybrids and electric cars, and against gas guzzlers, to the detriment of Trump's friends at the oil companies. Wonder how Rex Tillerson views this.Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:13 pm Bitching about a possible gas tax is why we can't have nice things.
A gas tax is a no-brainer. In real terms, it has dwindled to about nothing since it was last raised. The price of gas is significantly lower than a few years ago, so it wouldn't hurt that much. And it is logical to have transportation users pay to improve our transportation network. And since our dependence on driving causes so much ill in society, from pollution to Middle East entanglements, anything that disincentivizes driving has important societal benefits.
But god forbid we raise the gas tax by a penny a mile.
I think you maybe misread.brian wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:35 pm I don't know about that. Flat taxes like the gas taxes are generally felt more by those with lower incomes as opposed to the regressive taxes.
So I don't think the urban libtards (many of whom don't own cars to begin with, at least in many cities) aren't as affected.
At least those same companies don't control all the huge trucks that do something like 500x the damage to roads that passenger cars do and even if they did, at least they wouldn't pass the gas upcharge on to drivers of said passenger cars.
Yeah that's was PDX said.brian wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:35 pm I don't know about that. Flat taxes like the gas taxes are generally felt more by those with lower incomes as opposed to the regressive taxes.
So I don't think the urban libtards (many of whom don't own cars to begin with, at least in many cities) aren't as affected.
Hopefully, come election time, it's repeated over and over again that Trump's "big" promises (wall, infrastructure) are all being proposed to be built on the backs of the classes he was pledging relief to. All while the wealthy are doing Scrooge Mcduck dives into their money pools.brian wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:37 pm I hear ya and we agree I'm just saying that we do need to do something about repairing roads and bridges and the money needs to come from somewhere. It would be nice to be having that conversation in a world where Trump and the GOP didn't just give away trillions to the wealthy.
You're right - if I drive the roads, or pay others to drive the roads for me, a gas tax would force me to pay more for those roads.Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:36 pm It's not that a gas tax would be bad, it's that we had 1.5 trillion to give away under the guise of helping the middle class and then we potentially decide "fuck the middle class" and raise a tax on the most obvious thing everyone has to buy.
But it's double fucked. Do you buy anything that needs to be delivered? Cool. Shipping companies need to buy that gas too. And guess who gets stuck with that mark up? Not them. That's the only real "trickle down" that actually works.
Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:36 pm It's not that a gas tax would be bad, it's that we had 1.5 trillion to give away under the guise of helping the middle class and then we potentially decide "fuck the middle class" and raise a tax on the most obvious thing everyone has to buy.
But it's double fucked. Do you buy anything that needs to be delivered? Cool. Shipping companies need to buy that gas too. And guess who gets stuck with that mark up? Not them. That's the only real "trickle down" that actually works.
Sorry, missed your post.Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:46 pm
At least those same companies don't control all the huge trucks that do something like 500x the damage to roads that passenger cars do and even if they did, at least they wouldn't pass the gas upcharge on to drivers of said passenger cars.
OH WAIT THEY DO AND THEY WOULD! DARN IT!
Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:58 pmYou're right - if I drive the roads, or pay others to drive the roads for me, a gas tax would force me to pay more for those roads.Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:36 pm It's not that a gas tax would be bad, it's that we had 1.5 trillion to give away under the guise of helping the middle class and then we potentially decide "fuck the middle class" and raise a tax on the most obvious thing everyone has to buy.
But it's double fucked. Do you buy anything that needs to be delivered? Cool. Shipping companies need to buy that gas too. And guess who gets stuck with that mark up? Not them. That's the only real "trickle down" that actually works.
The thing about a gas tax is that it pretty much applies to everyone. Richer people like me buy more stuff from Amazon than poorer people. We take more drives. We may live farther out in the suburbs to commute to city jobs. So we pay more.
I'm sure people with lower incomes would *feel* the tax more, and that sucks. But I don't think that's a reason not to do it. I would rather that problem be solved in many other ways.
It's ok. We're still friends.Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:02 pmJohnnie wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:36 pm It's not that a gas tax would be bad, it's that we had 1.5 trillion to give away under the guise of helping the middle class and then we potentially decide "fuck the middle class" and raise a tax on the most obvious thing everyone has to buy.
But it's double fucked. Do you buy anything that needs to be delivered? Cool. Shipping companies need to buy that gas too. And guess who gets stuck with that mark up? Not them. That's the only real "trickle down" that actually works.Sorry, missed your post.Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:46 pm
At least those same companies don't control all the huge trucks that do something like 500x the damage to roads that passenger cars do and even if they did, at least they wouldn't pass the gas upcharge on to drivers of said passenger cars.
OH WAIT THEY DO AND THEY WOULD! DARN IT!
This is debatable. Urban cost of living is rising at such a fast pace that it's pushing lower-income people away from city centers. Of course, they're more likely to commute via public transportation, but in any case economic gentrification and commute costs are really hurting upward mobility.Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:58 pm We may live farther out in the suburbs to commute to city jobs. So we pay more.
Reddit megathread:Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:01 pm Breaking: Mueller indicts a bunch of Russians for election interference.
And his refusal to release the Dem's response to the Nunes memo went by almost without mention. There was such outrage and a push to release the Nunes memo, and just silence when the Dem's memo didn't come out. I expected the Lefty pundits and politicians to make a much bigger deal.
The money spent on "useless shit" like arts isn't anywhere near enough to cover transportation funding.TT2.0 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:35 am why do we need a gas tax? cant we reallpcate some of the millions of dollars in tax revenue that we already pay that gets spent on useless shit loke the arts or maybe take a couple billion out of our humongous defense budget? Why should I eat the tax on gas when the government pisses away the money we already give them?
lets fight the different fight then. i drive roughly 125 miles a day to work and backSteve of phpBB wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:23 pmThe money spent on "useless shit" like arts isn't anywhere near enough to cover transportation funding.TT2.0 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:35 am why do we need a gas tax? cant we reallpcate some of the millions of dollars in tax revenue that we already pay that gets spent on useless shit loke the arts or maybe take a couple billion out of our humongous defense budget? Why should I eat the tax on gas when the government pisses away the money we already give them?
I'd be fine cutting our military funding, but that's a different fight.
You should eat the tax on gas because you use and otherwise benefit from highways.