The Somali pirate investment program is amazing. Who knew fee/taxes is where many of these groups make their cash. Creative finance at its finest. So much easier than trafficking drugs.

Even Amazon Delivery Drones could be re-purposed to drop grenades from an altitude high enough to be inaudible & hard to see.

There were several examples of near-future dystopian sci-fi use of killer drones on Black Mirror...
1 was a small flying kamikaze drone that had facial recognition and a shape charge just big enough to penetrate the targets skull.
Other was Boston-Dynamics-style "dog" robot that had a gun embedded into it's front "paw" and was programmed to kill all humans. Both terrifying and hopefully never deployed IRL.

Sorry if I’m being over sensitive….anything that seems to legitimize the bastardized definition of CRT, in my eyes, is buying into the intentional political ruse to paint any anti racism program, plan, or organization, even unpleasant history with the “CRT” label (and everyone knows CRT is the Devil), and I find that upsetting, even when it’s unintentional….maybe more so when it’s unintentional because that means the rebranding and improper conflation is working.

I think you know, CRT is an advanced law class taken by law students, not a racist movement to erase white people from history as the right claims, not a diabolical plan to make all white children self hating BLM activists, and it really irks me how successful the publicly admitted, intentional, blatantly racist scapegoating and misrepresentation has worked.

It seemed you were accepting the right wing definition even as you dismissed the (I assume anti) “CRT” movement by comparing it to unconstitutional anti German/foreign language laws in the past. Apologies if I misunderstood or came across as accusatory.

I feel a sudden urge to play Kerbal Space Program.

Downvote at dishonest “bidenflation”. This is Trumpflation if we must be infants.

Economists will tell you how inflation happens. Creating 1/3 of every dollar in existence to pay for things we can’t afford (2020) is the simplest way. Lowering GDP is also a factor (-2.2% 2020)
At least under Biden, wages are increasing too. Didn’t happen under the last president, not so much. Inflation from a glut of new money (but no added value) takes time. It will continue no matter what steps are taken until the spending we did on fake “credit” gets paid.

Another debt Trump left, not Biden policies driving inflation.
I defy you, @bobknight33, name 3 Biden policies that are driving inflation. Name one. I’ve named the Trump policy economists say caused it….printing new money to pay for programs without funding. Look it up.

As for meat prices, remember that little thing called Covid? Remember how the last administration insisted Covid was a mild flu, and meat processing plants closed because of massive outbreaks? That, and subsequent labor shortages have increased prices, not Biden adding taxes.
Comparing mid pandemic unnaturally low (shutdown means cheap fuel, even free oil) fuel prices to artificially inflated (refineries refused calls to ramp production back up) prices of today is a red herring, a paper tiger. Two factors there caused the increase, neither caused by Biden.

Total false narrative, or in bob speak, FAKENEWS!

Ok. I admit that’s unnecessary and confusing.

A bit more than a rewording, a complete overhaul from the current American system. Never expect us to be reasonable or simple in our plans like our northern cousins can be.

I agree, without a means test, income limits for participation, assistance programs can’t be funded enough to actually help the needy and hand out the same amount to the well off. Those plans are nuts IMO.

I understand your issue with UBI. I support it in the sense of a safety net, no one should be forced to live on less than $X and IMO there should be no requirement besides no/low income….but to function that requires those who already make over $X to get nothing and just be happy they won’t be mugged for food money. I don’t support the “here’s a free $500 for everybody”, inflation would make it meaningless in a year, more circulating dollars with no more in the treasury/total value = inflation on top of your valid points.

Yeah, the crutch of it for me is the UBI moniker.

What you describe at the end of your post, minimum income, is really just a rewording of the existing social security and welfare systems across the western world. I know they look different in each, but here in Canada what you describe is more or less our already existing system's design goal. Welfare money exists for those that straight up can not work, and an employment insurance system exists to protect those inbetween jobs, meanwhile other multiple programs are aimed at distributing financial assistance to the lower income groups.

Despite all of that already existing, UBI is still being heralded up here in trials as well as a replacement. The problem being that for the needy the UBI pitches are generally a step backwards.

Eg. $500/month is the UBI pitch, and they say it'll be great because everyone gets it no matter what so it's simple and fair and nobody is left behind. The trouble though is that the reality is the truly in need people were already benefitting more than the $500/month under the existing systems, and the cost was much less because it was targeted.

I here UBI and get very worried about folks just selling snake oil 'solutions' that in the end are just a demand to adopt their own particular flavor of wealth redistribution.

So, time to end the subsidies and tax breaks for Tesla then. No more government handouts for them.

They’re not going to be so dominant when actual competition is available, coming soon from every maker. (High demand, low inventory, double sticker price gas cars aren’t a fair comparison.).
They also wouldn’t be so profitable if they paid taxes.

It was not a good move to program the self driving unit to run stop signs. (Yes, they programmed it to just “rolling stop” at stop signs recently which is not just illegal it’s also dangerous.). That’s the kind of upgrade you get with Tesla, without warning. How many recalls now?

Also not a good move for Elon to admit he’s far right, pro corporate subsidy, anti tax. It alienates most of his customers.

Did they offer that in the program, or was it only random individuals….or are you extrapolating, assuming the program became universal? I thought this plan was just for the indigent.

$500 each for 4 works out to more than my wife brought home for 40 hours a week after 15 years at her last job…..barely livable for 4 anywhere in California, a nice income in some states. Not a huge amount to provide for 6 months. How much does temporary housing, services, extra law enforcement, etc cost over that time for 4 people? I assume they’re close.

Yes, universal income is costly, but most on the right won’t consider giving the destitute money if they don’t get a handout too, that likely multiplies the amount by over 10 times. With a means test, it would be billions, maybe under $100 billion. We spent nearly $6 trillion on bad Covid response in 2020, including trillions to corporate welfare handouts with no strings attached and they still fired millions of workers. I think if that’s ok we can afford to invest in making people productive again instead of drains on society (of course, not everyone will benefit, but 75% success must be a win overall). If not, socialize any corporation that took a bailout, we bought em, we should own them.

…Or taking on more debt like every government project, but the increase in gdp from turning costs into profits likely pays for the program without a dime in new taxes, just a reduction in costs of handling the homeless and new taxes from their incomes….especially if you have a means test and not universal income.

Yes, they convoluted by calling it universal income but focusing on homeless. It should be UMI. Universal Minimum Income….under employed get less than unemployed up to a certain minimum livable combined income, fully employed (with living wages) get nothing….IMO. Sadly, a large portion of people can’t see what’s in that plan for them (no homeless, less crime dumbshits) so won’t consider it unless they also get $500 even though that’s not even a noticeable amount to them….one more ivory backscratcher.

Holy fuck!
Remember Hillary?
Remember how she should be locked up for using a private server for digital copies of official government documents?

Uh oh….Trump not only also did exactly that, but he actually stole original (uncopied, with no digital copy) documents from the whitehouse, including but not limited to presidential records, personal notes, correspondence with foreign leaders, government records…. The national archive had to raid Maralago to retrieve what was left unincinerated (yes, he burned records that he stole from the whitehouse).
He allegedly actually ate some records in the Oval Office so they couldn’t be retrieved and put back together like so many were.
Another instance of Trump being ridiculously guilty of far more of the exact criminal activity that he asserted his opponent might commit and should definitely be executed for.

P.S. How about those jobs numbers!? Not the 300000 jobs lost Fox and co have been gleefully telegraphing for weeks, but nearly 500000 gained, and more people reentering the workforce thanks to a healthy economy! Thanks Biden!

On a personal note, Biden debt relief programs just erased $59k of student debt my mother in law has been paying off for nearly 50 years (she became severely ill and was out of work for years….twice, and all progress she had made paying it off was erased with penalties and interest). Thanks again Biden!

Just incase you're afraid of- you know- facing reality

========================================


IQ testing and the eugenics movement in the United States

Eugenics, a set of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of the human population by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior and promoting those judged to be superior,[39][40][41] played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States during the Progressive Era, from the late 19th century until US involvement in World War II.[42][43]

The American eugenics movement was rooted in the biological determinist ideas of the British Scientist Sir Francis Galton. In 1883, Galton first used the word eugenics to describe the biological improvement of human genes and the concept of being "well-born".[44][45] He believed that differences in a person's ability were acquired primarily through genetics and that eugenics could be implemented through selective breeding in order for the human race to improve in its overall quality, therefore allowing for humans to direct their own evolution.[46]

Goddard was a eugenicist. In 1908, he published his own version, The Binet and Simon Test of Intellectual Capacity, and cordially promoted the test. He quickly extended the use of the scale to the public schools (1913), to immigration (Ellis Island, 1914) and to a court of law (1914).[47]

Unlike Galton, who promoted eugenics through selective breeding for positive traits, Goddard went with the US eugenics movement to eliminate "undesirable" traits.[48] Goddard used the term "feeble-minded" to refer to people who did not perform well on the test. He argued that "feeble-mindedness" was caused by heredity, and thus feeble-minded people should be prevented from giving birth, either by institutional isolation or sterilization surgeries.[47] At first, sterilization targeted the disabled, but was later extended to poor people. Goddard's intelligence test was endorsed by the eugenicists to push for laws for forced sterilization. Different states adopted the sterilization laws at different paces. These laws, whose constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court in their 1927 ruling Buck v. Bell, forced over 60,000 people to go through sterilization in the United States.[49]

California's sterilization program was so effective that the Nazis turned to the government for advice on how to prevent the birth of the "unfit".[50] While the US eugenics movement lost much of its momentum in the 1940s in view of the horrors of Nazi Germany, advocates of eugenics (including Nazi geneticist Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer) continued to work and promote their ideas in the United States.[50] In later decades, some eugenic principles have made a resurgence as a voluntary means of selective reproduction, with some calling them "new eugenics".[51] As it becomes possible to test for and correlate genes with IQ (and its proxies),[52] ethicists and embryonic genetic testing companies are attempting to understand the ways in which the technology can be ethically deployed.[53]

Aaaaahahahaha! Stop projecting, Bob.

ROTFLMFAHS!!! 139 IQ Bob. Excelling in college level classes at 6th grade. Over 10 years of higher education….including critical thinking. I know you wouldn’t post your actual IQ score because it’s double digits, and the first digit is not 9.

You know full well you’re the uneducated ignoramus living in a fantasy world here, still spreading the big lie with no evidence, just like 99% of what you’ve said in the last 13 years (yes, you lost your mind over Obama and have only gotten worse under The Biggest Loser, the convicted con man and consummate liar.)

MY head is up MY ass!?! LMFAHS!!! You have the long term verified clinical diagnosis of cranial rectosis….I know it colors your viewpoint, but that shit you see is in your eyes, not on me. Too funny, Ms Iknowyouarebutwhatami.

Bob, you know how often the partisan nonsense you spout is wrong, verifiably and definitely wrong, based on blatant lies? More than 9/10. You still think Trump won, or at least that there was massive democratic fraud last election, despite no evidence, despite a dozen times you were told the evidence would be released tomorrow, but when tomorrow came there was nothing, despite multiple audits, including the hyper partisan unofficial biased vote review that found hundreds of votes for Biden but zero evidence of vote fraud, despite 62 failed attempts to prove any fraud in court, despite dozens upon dozens of accusations that all turned out to be misrepresentation, misunderstandings, and outright lies, but not evidence, despite Mike Pillow, crazy moronic crackhead that can’t produce a cogent thought much less evidence of fraud being the failed clearly insane spokesman for the movement. (He now claims he has proof every American over 7 committed vote fraud that can put us all in prison for life)

You like to spout insanity, see it debunked with facts figures and citations, and slink away so you don’t have to try to defend the indefensible or admit you were w-w-w-wrong. When I make a claim, you rebut it with a “nuh-uh…your dum!” and think you won an argument when you haven’t offered one….and I still bother to verify them with facts, figures, and often multiple citations to prove my point anyway.

Tesla stock was a good deal 3 years ago, not today. It’s a bubble, one day it will pop. Better get out before then. My increases came largely from a ton of S&P, various energy stocks and medical stocks, and some tech. I sold my J&J before their vaccine flopped, knowing they have billions in lawsuits to lose soon. My one account went up >30% this year. I made more than if it was all in Tesla (> 30% vs Tesla at 24% for the year)….and I don’t have a PE ratio of 360 indicating a major correction in the future, and I get dividends. If China comes up with a better battery, you better sell immediately. They’ve done well, but are unstable, randomly fluctuating, not secure, and run by a nut that doesn’t care about hurting his own stock prices (or manipulates them for his own gain, I can’t be sure).

Please name these failures, I don’t think you can. You’ve listed the economy, insanely better under Biden, unemployment, insanely better under Biden, immigration, still using the Trump era rules and methods (so there’s one), Inflation, Trump devalued the dollar by 30% and only paused inflation for a year by halting the economy, actually making it a negative growth. Covid, lol. The people responsible for the lack of Covid response are your people, the people who are still unvaccinated and still having problems are idiot Republicans. Covid was, and is a right wing caused issue, fortunately it now effects mostly right wing morons, they should be banned from hospitals, they chose to be vulnerable.

He has failed to remove disastrous Trump appointees, projects, policies, and programs. He’s failed to pass more thorough infrastructure (build back better) but has gotten infrastructure funding. He’s going to fail to secure voting rights thanks to 100% Republican obstructionism, true, unless there’s a miracle in November.

CNN leader in fake news? WHAT?! I suppose maybe, because OAN, Newsmax, and Fox along with all the other right wing media aren’t news at all, they’re dishonest propaganda channels that lie to you daily….and you just fucking love it, you love the lies, and because you love them you believe them, and for no other reason because there’s never evidence for your lies….that’s why you disappear so often, caught in too many lies and called out on them, proven wrong, and you don’t have the spine to admit it. Coward. Use the same criteria and CNN beats every right wing outlet for honesty, correctness, willingness to correct mistakes, and their lack of involvement in a violent attack against the country and democracy, you fool.

You forgot the (alleged) assasination attempt on President Maduro in Venezuela. They only had two drones.

A swarm of 5200 could take out any non hardened above ground target, including the White House, and no ballistic system in use today could stop them all. Indeed, if they are programmed to come from every direction to one point, flying low, they would almost certainly go undetected until it was too late and could deliver tons (literally) of high explosives.

from Asset Forfeiture
Policy Manual 2021


I. Guidelines for Planning for Seizure and Restraint
A. Background
The Department of Justice (Department) Asset Forfeiture Program (Program) encompasses the
seizure and forfeiture of assets that represent the proceeds of, or were used to facilitate, federal
crimes. The Program has four primary goals:
(1) Punish and deter criminal activity by depriving criminals of property used in or acquired
through illegal activities.
(2) Promote and enhance cooperation among federal, state, local, tribal, and foreign law
enforcement agencies.
(3) Recover assets that may be used to compensate victims when authorized under federal law.
(4) Ensure that the Program is administered professionally, lawfully, and in a manner consistent
with sound public policy

II. Payment of Attorneys’ Fees in Criminal Forfeiture Cases
A. Defendant’s attorneys’ fees
The defendant in a criminal forfeiture action may file for an award of attorneys’ fees only under
the Hyde Amendment.4 A motion for fees and costs filed in a civil forfeiture case under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2465(b) cannot include fees and costs incurred in even a directly related criminal proceeding.5
To prevail on a Hyde Amendment claim, the defendant must prove that: (1) the defendant was the
prevailing party in the underlying action; (2) the government’s position was vexatious, frivolous, or in
bad faith; and (3) there are no special circumstances that would make the award unjust.6
This burden
is heavier than the one the government must meet under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA