CardinalBacker

I’m sure there will be different opinions as to the constitutionality... I’m confused as to why the Chief Justice isn’t presiding over the trial. I suspect that issue (constitutionality) will end up being heard by the Supreme Court at some point.

I read from two different sources where most of Trump’s legal team that’s supposed to represent him at his upcoming trial in the senate are no longer on board. Five attorneys (including the lead) are gone. Sources say the split was mutual, but came from a difference of opinion on how to best proceed. Trump was allegedly upset that the attorneys wouldn’t go public denying that any wrong was done and they also refused to incorporate claims of the “stolen election” into Trump’s defense. That’s not good, with an answer due on Tuesday and a trial starting next week. The sources also said that Trump believes that he can defend the charges himself, which doesn’t lend to him listening to his own counsel. On another note, the talking heads are now claiming that if the impeachment doesn’t yield a conviction, congress can still disqualify Trump from ever holding office again by way of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment... only requiring a simple majority in both chambers of congress instead of the 2/3rd majority needed for conviction on impeachment. That’s gonna be interesting to watch. It’s gonna be an exhausting few weeks coming up.

Did you itemize prior to 2017? Long story short, my rate got slightly cut, but they also did away with some of my deductions.... Net difference is my total tax liability was practically unchanged from before to after the "tax cuts." It's important to note that they changed the withholding tables, so I ended up bringing home a little more on a weekly basis, but my refund was reduced. But if you look at my tax liability before and after, it's a wash. I'm not mad, it just didn't benefit me... and that's no problem.

I have a buddy that has a job-job and makes a lot of money. He also does side work a couple of times a month for cash, typically. Last year he had his taxes ready to file and was going to have to send the IRS something like 2 grand. He wasn’t happy. THEN he got a 1099 from a customer that was for a small $2k job... he plugged that new income into the software and his tax bill for the year bounced to 3 grand. He thought there was a mistake. No... it’s those top tax rates on high earners. By the time you get to the end of the year, basically half of every dollar you earn is considered “your fair share.” Long story short, that $2k side job isn’t worth doing for $1k after taxes... so he quits fooling with them. His customers have to find a professional to come out and do the work, and that $2k side job becomes a $4k job.... but the good news is that tax increases don’t affect the little guys, lol

No. They benefitted most people, but not me. Example... prior to trumps plan, let’s say the standard destruction for a single person was $6000, but a person going long form could deduct $12000 from their tax liability. With the Trump plan the standard deduction was raised to $12,000, the person who previously itemized saw no actual benefit under the new plan. Guys who didn’t previously itemize made out. For instance, an employee deducting 20,000 business miles prior to the plan (20,000x.60 cents=$12,000 deduction at your top tax rate) at 25% top rate that single lost deduction would increase your tax liability by three grand.

Honestly, the tax cuts didn't help me. I've itemized for years and the increase in standard deductions makes my tax burden (itemized) practically identical to someone who just takes the standard deduction. ALSO, i've been deducting mileage driven on behalf of my employer and that particular deduction was wiped out with the Trump Tax cuts... unless you work for a politician, of course. "Employees who use their car for work can no longer take an employee business expense deduction as part of their miscellaneous itemized deductions reported on Schedule A. Employees can’t deduct this cost even if their employer doesn’t reimburse the employee for using their own car. This is for tax years after December 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% floor. However, certain taxpayers may still deduct unreimbursed employee travel expenses, this includes Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, and fee-basis state or local government officials."

EDITED BY ADMIN

Did you see where Trump revoked the rule about not having former staffers work as lobbyists on his last day in office? #preserveourwetlands

Truth hurts, my man.... I'll go as far as to say that Trump's first debate performance possibly cost him his second term. It was terrible, no doubt cost him countless undecided or moderate votes, and happened early in the mail-in voting period. When you add in the second debate that he forfeited, you're left with a decent third debate, but it was too little, too late, in my opinion, to lock down any undecideds. The end.

The first one was a bad joke... this one has legs.

Or, the fact that one dude didn't know how to act and therefore this guy got elected. Place blame where it belongs. It didn't have to be like this.

Ummm.... the crying after this election cycle is worse than anything I've seen in my lifetime.... without a question. The President refused to concede, skipped the inauguration, his supporters attacked the capitol, and the trial for starting the insurrection starts 2/8..... Repubs have far exceeded any snotty nosed dweeb behavior that we've ever seen before. Nice try, though.

My point is, with a pandemic raging Trump quit even acknowledging its existence once the vote totals started rolling in. No directives, no reports, no admonitions. He was purely focused on overturning the lawful election and nothing else. It’s why the vaccine rollout has been such a mess.... there was no plan.

Well, he’s doing what he promised. So that’s a plus, I guess. Unlike those knuckleheads that promised to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, and to make America great again. We’re in way worse shape than we were in ‘16.

If he does a single thing about the pandemic, it’ll be more than Trump did in the last 2.5 months of his presidency.

I think when Walker was indicted Dr Thomas knew that the writing was on the wall. He raked up his chips and got outta Dodge. You can say a lot of bad things about Dr Thomas, but he wasn’t a dummy.

That’s totally false. [Hidden Content] Calvin Walker was indicted in May of 2011. This is an article about then-super Dr Thomas from March of 2011. [Hidden Content] The garbage continued after Dr Thomas’s departure, but make no mistake... it was going on while he ran the show as well.

There’s just as much proof of voter fraud as there is that Trump called the troops losers.

No explanation needed.

It’s so funny.... all of y’all have spent the last two and half months arguing that disrespect isn’t a big deal (if it’s coming from Trump) and now you’re crying that our troops have been disrespected by the Dems. they’re all a bunch of losers according to trump anyways.

Hold on... y’all keep saying Trump’s disrespect should be overlooked because of the economy, but suddenly you’re all up in arms because of “disrespect” shown because troops are sleeping in a garage instead of tents? Y’all are delusional.

I was like.... all of those guardsman that did three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are like "really?"

He dang sure hasn't done anything about it since Early November.

Right? I think the nuttiest part is that the two "yes" votes were from a lady who got booted when the state came on board and the son of a guy who had the same fate.

Oh, no doubt. My biggest gripe with Trump is that I feel like his behavior led to him not being re-elected. And that's a loss that we're all going to have to live with. No luck on that first female Pres thing.... I just don't see Biden finishing his first term. But you're right on the "women power" thing. Just yesterday ESPN was celebrating that Kelly Loeffler (that just lost the Senate Race in Georgia) was being forced to sell her WNBA Team. I guess all of that "we need women and minority owners" talk wasn't geared towards conservative white women, lol. [Hidden Content]