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A Bidentastic week and Trump's very bad one

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  • #91
    Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
    I'm not sure how comprehensive your research was, but a variation of that phrase has been around a lot longer than the 1990s.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument
    Nearly all the sources mentioned there are modern US and UK ones confirming my point. This only seems to have become a common phrase within the last 30 years and nearly only in the UK and US. The only two historical references there are to obscure books, and one of them doesn't even use half the same words and is only very vaguely making the same general point.
    "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
    "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
    "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

    Comment


    • #92
      Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post

      But why is gas going down? I thought Putin's gas hikes were because he invaded Ukraine. Did he withdraw? Did he suddenly stop attacking so the price of oil would drop?

      Putin, Putin, PUTIN!!!!
      Odds are, gas prices are going down because gas prices were so high.

      High gas prices lead to either greater supply or lower demand, or both. And that leads to lower gas prices.

      Comment


      • #93
        Originally posted by Stoic View Post

        Odds are, gas prices are going down because gas prices were so high.

        High gas prices lead to either greater supply or lower demand, or both. And that leads to lower gas prices.
        Summer is coming to a close so demand is down. Also, IIRC, company refineries said they were slowly ramping back up from the covid shutdowns and they projected some relief by fall. Plus, Biden emptied out the reserves. I expected a price decline.

        Comment


        • #94
          Originally posted by Starlight View Post
          Nearly all the sources mentioned there are modern US and UK ones confirming my point. This only seems to have become a common phrase within the last 30 years and nearly only in the UK and US. The only two historical references there are to obscure books, and one of them doesn't even use half the same words and is only very vaguely making the same general point.
          It sounds like a line from 1984

          Comment


          • #95
            Originally posted by Ronson View Post
            It sounds like a line from 1984
            It does sound like one, but doesn't seem to be. When I searched for it, no references to 1984 came up.

            The only politician to use the phrase and mean it appears to have been a recent UK conservative leader. As far as I can tell, no other politician in history has ever said it and meant it (there are sarcastic uses by politicians in the last couple of decades in the US), and following on from that the repressive government in Harry Potter uses it, presumably because the English writer JK Rowling got it from that English politician.

            When I searched for it, I found no references to any of the historical authoritarians using the phrase (e.g. Hilter, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao etc), it seems to have been popularized in the US and the UK within the last 30 years and pretty much all the references to it occur in that context.

            I do find it generally interesting how little correspondence there always is between what people like MM imagine historical authoritarian governments would have done and said (e.g. he found no problem with asserting, fact free, that they used this phrase), versus the facts of what they actually did and said. Modern US conservatives seem to have very little historical knowledge about the historical authoritarian governments they critique. That in term seems to lead them to be blind to their own party's current authoritarianism.
            "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
            "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
            "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

            Comment


            • #96
              Originally posted by Starlight View Post
              It does sound like one, but doesn't seem to be. When I searched for it, no references to 1984 came up.

              The only politician to use the phrase and mean it appears to have been a recent UK conservative leader. As far as I can tell, no other politician in history has ever said it and meant it (there are sarcastic uses by politicians in the last couple of decades in the US), and following on from that the repressive government in Harry Potter uses it, presumably because the English writer JK Rowling got it from that English politician.

              When I searched for it, I found no references to any of the historical authoritarians using the phrase (e.g. Hilter, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao etc), it seems to have been popularized in the US and the UK within the last 30 years and pretty much all the references to it occur in that context.

              I do find it generally interesting how little correspondence there always is between what people like MM imagine historical authoritarian governments would have done and said (e.g. he found no problem with asserting, fact free, that they used this phrase), versus the facts of what they actually did and said. Modern US conservatives seem to have very little historical knowledge about the historical authoritarian governments they critique. That in term seems to lead them to be blind to their own party's current authoritarianism.
              It may be an alteration of an older line, "If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear" regarding surveillance. That one (or similar) appears to go back to the 19th century.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument

              Comment


              • #97
                Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                I'm not sure I understand all the worry here about the IRS having more ability to crack down on tax evasion. Assuming that the posters here are dutifully paying their own taxes, why aren't you all thrilled that other people who are tax cheats and who aren't paying what they owe like you are, are going to be brought to justice? Or is this forum full of tax cheats who are afraid of enforcement of the law against themselves??

                Personally, as someone who pays taxes every year in accordance with the law, I would have nothing to worry about if the tax department audited me, and I would welcome it doing further scrutiny on people who were doing tax evasion because such people are ripping off the entire country and everyone in it.
                The Democrats are busy weaponizing every federal agency. Look at how under Lois Learner the Obama Administration went after conservative organizations.

                Old Joe is setting it up for that to be done in spades.

                Yeah, no need to be concerned.

                I'm always still in trouble again

                "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                Comment


                • #98
                  Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                  I am unfamiliar with any tyrannical government in history using that phrase. I presume you just pulled this claim from your rear where you get most of your posts from.
                  The usual wording is more along the lines of "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," an expression coined by the author Upton Sinclair a little over a century ago. It is usually associated with the Nazis but ironically it was used to defend the ever-present video surveillance practiced in Britain.

                  I'm always still in trouble again

                  "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                  "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                  "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                  Comment


                  • #99

                    I'm always still in trouble again

                    "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                    "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                    "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                      The usual wording is more along the lines of "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," an expression coined by the author Upton Sinclair a little over a century ago.
                      Sinclair certainly seems to have used the phase in his book a century ago, but it doesn't seem that it got much currency from that. The phrase does not seem to have been widely used again until the last 30 years, when it appears in the UK and US discussions of the surveillance state.

                      It is usually associated with the Nazis but ironically it was used to defend the ever-present video surveillance practiced in Britain.
                      Searching for references to the Nazis and it, I get pages telling me it's a misattribution and that the Nazis never said anything of the sort.
                      "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                      "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                      "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                        Sinclair certainly seems to have used the phase in his book a century ago, but it doesn't seem that it got much currency from that. The phrase does not seem to have been widely used again until the last 30 years, when it appears in the UK and US discussions of the surveillance state.

                        Searching for references to the Nazis and it, I get pages telling me it's a misattribution and that the Nazis never said anything of the sort.
                        The saying was in widespread use over here since I was a kid.

                        I'm always still in trouble again

                        "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                        "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                        "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                        Comment


                        • On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) reacted to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating that the increased IRS enforcement in the Inflation Reduction Act will result in people making less than $400,000 paying $20 billion in new taxes by pointing out that Senate Democrats rejected an amendment to prevent increased audits of people making less than $400,000 because it’s “their intention” to raise taxes on those making less than $400,000.

                          Scalise said, “[J]ust look at what CBO has said so far. They haven’t evaluated the whole bill. They have said this army of 87,000 new IRS agents, more than doubling the size of the IRS, that they will be going after people making less than $400,000. That would break President Biden’s pledge. They said, by the way, that lower-income families will be paying $20 billion in new taxes just from the IRS agents.”

                          He added, “There was an amendment to make sure that would not apply to people making under $400,000, and every Democrat in the Senate voted against it, so the amendment was defeated. So, clearly, their intention is not the millionaires and billionaires. Their intention is this 87,000 army. Think of an NFL stadium, any NFL stadium in America, completely filled with new IRS agents going after people making less than $400,000, in violation of President Biden’s promise. It’s been guaranteed. We know that it will happen. CBO confirmed it today.”

                          https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022...preventing-it/
                          Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                          But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                          Than a fool in the eyes of God


                          From "Fools Gold" by Petra

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
                            On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) reacted to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating that the increased IRS enforcement in the Inflation Reduction Act will result in people making less than $400,000 paying $20 billion in new taxes by pointing out that Senate Democrats rejected an amendment to prevent increased audits of people making less than $400,000 because it’s “their intention” to raise taxes on those making less than $400,000.

                            Scalise said, “[J]ust look at what CBO has said so far. They haven’t evaluated the whole bill. They have said this army of 87,000 new IRS agents, more than doubling the size of the IRS, that they will be going after people making less than $400,000. That would break President Biden’s pledge. They said, by the way, that lower-income families will be paying $20 billion in new taxes just from the IRS agents.”

                            He added, “There was an amendment to make sure that would not apply to people making under $400,000, and every Democrat in the Senate voted against it, so the amendment was defeated. So, clearly, their intention is not the millionaires and billionaires. Their intention is this 87,000 army. Think of an NFL stadium, any NFL stadium in America, completely filled with new IRS agents going after people making less than $400,000, in violation of President Biden’s promise. It’s been guaranteed. We know that it will happen. CBO confirmed it today.”

                            https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022...preventing-it/
                            Imagine thinking that millionaires like Biden, Pelosi and Schumer will go after their own class in defense of the "little guy." I can't figure out if progressives are such useful idiots because they're just dumb and naive or if their delusional. On one hand they express disdain for billionaires and millionaires and on the other they view them as their saviors, so it's probably delusion.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                              The Democrats are busy weaponizing every federal agency. Look at how under Lois Learner the Obama Administration went after conservative organizations.

                              Old Joe is setting it up for that to be done in spades.

                              Yeah, no need to be concerned.
                              Just wait until we're done weaponizing Medicare!


                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by Stoic View Post

                                Just wait until we're done weaponizing Medicare!
                                The current crew in the WH would be the ones to figure out how to do it.

                                I'm always still in trouble again

                                "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                                "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                                "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                                Comment

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