Devos Confirmed

[Stormspark]

Why is this level of direct and blatant bribery even legal in the US?

There are laws specifically making it legal. In the US, at least now, money is considered "free speech", and thus bribery is freedom of expression.

[Felya]

You're right, he took a write off of a business loss of $916m (yes almost 1 BILLION dollars), that was perfectly legal. You want to take a guess how much taxes were paid on the billion plus dollars invested into the company that took that loss? How much taxes were paid by the employees who earned wages while they worked there? Payroll taxes? Etc., Etc., Etc. People are so blown away by the MSM's reporting of the loss, that they don't look at the bigger picture (that the MSM likes to leave out).

Why don't you show me, instead of guessing?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy

What big picture do you want people to look at? How much taxes would you pay next year if your income fell by 50%? I bet it won't be 0. When you leach on the taxes you pay, as a sign of your employer paying taxes, I think you have entered a quagmire where everything you said from this point on makes no sense.

Due to your own excuses for Trump, your complaining about taxes doesn't make sense... after all, those are the taxes you are attributing to the employer.

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But they're not by definition. As I said, DISPOSABLE != DISCRETIONARY. Learn the difference.

You just said that Trump not paying taxes, was justified by his employees doing so. Are you complaining that your employer is taxed too much or that your income is taxed too much?

If you are carrying the burden of paying taxes of people like Trump, you shouldn't be comparing your self to those making 10k paying less taxes, but your employer having you do it. You only seem to see the imbalance when defending Trump... not that you realize it...

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I mean if you use that logic, nothing is MANDATORY.

Well, not nothing:

https://youtu.be/5jsORc3sPtQ

[zaphon]

You're just arguing semantics.

Seriously? No I'm stating facts that you can spend 30 seconds searching Google, Bing, etc. for and confirm yourself, but I'm sure you'll let me know these are "alternative facts". Go ahead keep proving my point of how well our public education system is.

[Cthulhu 2020]

"Let's make our kids dumber... on purpose! So they'll tend towards a certain political affiliation. Because we know that educated people are liberal cucks."

I never thought I'd see idiocracy come true. Mostly because I thought it was a work of fiction, not an ominous vision from the future.

[ShadowofVashj]

If anything, this appointment proves without a shadow of a doubt what a cancer Republicans are to the US. It's not even debatable or partisan anymore, it's just simple fact. Anyone who denies this is either ignorant or trolling.

infracted - trolling

I'm not sure why this is an infraction. Republicans and their President have lied to the American Public. How is that even subjective?

[Fang7986]

If you're in a position where you can practically move your child to a different school district odds are you're well off enough for it not to be a decision you have to make.

the thing is parents move their kids to different schools all the time, if it means they end up with more playing time on a better football/basketball/hockey team. In Minnesota there was a couple who divorced so mom and kid could get an apt in a different district with a better hockey team while dad stayed in the old district with the house and the day after the kid graduated high school the parents got remarried. They did all of this just so they kid could play on a better hockey team in high school. Schools in America aren't for learning parents use em as daycare and dream factories thinking their kid is going to be the next Brady or Jordan

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Oh really, you probably don't understand the Senate very well then. There is a much more likely chance that Dems will lose seats at this point in 2018, Democrats have 23 yes you read that right, 23 of 50 seats up for election in 2018. GOP have 8. You had your chance in 2016 and blew it all on Hillary, you are done until at least 2020.

Dems have lost over 1000 seats nationwide to Repubs during the 8 years Obama was president. Dems have complete control of only 5 states. They've been blowing it for awhile.

[Felya]

Seriously? No I'm stating facts that you can spend 30 seconds searching Google, Bing, etc. for and confirm yourself, but I'm sure you'll let me know these are "alternative facts". Go ahead keep proving my point of how well our public education system is.

Why not spend 30 seconds searching Google so you can show your facts, instead of stating them? So far, the only fact you have confirmed is that your definition of too much is about 13%.

[JohnBrown1917]

Seriously? No I'm stating facts that you can spend 30 seconds searching Google, Bing, etc. for and confirm yourself, but I'm sure you'll let me know these are "alternative facts". Go ahead keep proving my point of how well our public education system is.

Sorry, but i'm acteally from a country that has really good public eduction.
Not sure how the American system affects me.


But it seems you just dont want to accept how most people see disposable income.

[Felya]

Sorry, but i'm acteally from a country that has really good public eduction.
Not sure how the American system affects me.


But it seems you just dont want to accept how most people see disposable income.

In case you missed it, I think you might like this in context of your discussion. This is his defense of Trump not paying any federal taxes:

You want to take a guess how much taxes were paid on the billion plus dollars invested into the company that took that loss? How much taxes were paid by the employees who earned wages while they worked there? Payroll taxes?

I removed blaming the media.

[zaphon]

Why not spend 30 seconds searching Google so you can show your facts, instead of stating them? So far, the only fact you have confirmed is that your definition of too much is about 13%.

You could scroll up and click the link I included in my message.

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I removed blaming the media.

Hi CNN! #fakenews

[Very Tired]

Go ahead and make fun of her while you can. She'll be the one laughing when no one knows how to read anymore.

[Iamanerd]

Freedom doesn't equal Free Stuff! And for the record, while all the kids in public school were earning the school thousands upon thousands of dollars per year (I believe it's over $10k per kid), I was not getting any of that for my kids. I paid out of pocket (and oh yeah, my tax dollars went towards those other kids). Wouldn't it be nice if I could take that $10k and apply it towards the private school?

I call bullshit on those numbers, I mean making them up must be fun(Seriously maybe provide some sources on it). Living in a society like we do education is a must for anyone and should be provided to everyone so society can advance. Not this "I can pay for private school so they can to" bullshit because you ignore economic aspects. Not everyone has that privilege seeing as you're too blind to see that.

I do also agree that public education needs to be improved across the board and we have a long way to go but Devos isn't the way.

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Lol I love how you keep trying to insult me with "common core", "public education". Here's some napkin math for you:

10% of $10,000 is $1,000 therefore you have $9,000 left
10% of $100,000 is $10,000 and you're left with $90,000 (woe is me!)

Let's go farther. 10% of $1,000,000 is $100,000 and you're left with $900,000. Bless your poor soul the struggle must be terrible.

It's quite clear they have their head stuck up their ass and have never been in a situation where they could be living on the street at any moment. Classic bootstrap example with a side of ignoring reality. If Zaphon doesn't see that the more you make you contribute a bit more in taxes for society because in return society allowed you to get where you're at because you benefited from everything society offered. Seriously if it wasn't for society no amount of bootstrapping would allow you to be where you're at now. It's called paying your dues.

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You're right, he took a write off of a business loss of $916m (yes almost 1 BILLION dollars), that was perfectly legal. You want to take a guess how much taxes were paid on the billion plus dollars invested into the company that took that loss? How much taxes were paid by the employees who earned wages while they worked there? Payroll taxes? Etc., Etc., Etc. People are so blown away by the MSM's reporting of the loss, that they don't look at the bigger picture (that the MSM likes to leave out).

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Disposable Income by dictionary definition - "income remaining after deduction of taxes and other mandatory charges, available to be spent or saved as one wishes."

So unless you're rent, basic living, etc. are MANDATORY charges I think I understand the concept better than you.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/...ableincome.asp

I think you have confused disposable income with discretionary income.

Rent and basic living expenses aren't mandatory? You claim to have gone to school for computer science? Your logic is some of the most fucked up I've seen in a long time. I guess basic living isn't mandatory.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

I'm not sure why this is an infraction. Republicans and their President have lied to the American Public. How is that even subjective?

Because, first, it is. To assume everyone in the US has the same vision is the problem I see when I read your post. For many, Republicans are a positive thing - not the common people, mind you, but to say that Republicans are cancer, and then proceed to say that saying otherwise is ignorant or trolling is an act of trolling in itself.

As for your second point, so did Obama and so did Bush. The Trump administration is definitely not the administration I dreamt of, or hoped for. But the reality is that outside a core system of values, the US has two parties that basically mirror one-another. The only difference is who push whom agenda.

[Felya]

You could scroll up and click the link I included in my message.

You mean this:

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/...ableincome.asp

Which explicitly includes the mandatory spending they are talking about, like housing and food. That's why you are arguing semantics. Just because that's what DPI is defined as, doesn't mean people talking about food and housing as mandatory instead of disposable income. The tax code even includes their definition by providing different standards for single filers, married and head of house hold. Each of those roles change what is mandatory spending, such as dependables.

Remember our talk about you getting 10k per kid for education, instead of public schooling? Well, I don't have any kids and at nearly 40, I have 0 intent in having any. So, explain to me, why our incomes being the same, would result in you paying less and having my contribution go to your kid's expanses. I gave you the benefit of doubt, by going with you wanting Reagan's welfare queen to get 10k per her her 12 kids. But, we can go all Ayn Rand and demand my 10k back, as I have no kids? How much should I get per my 0 kids, the same or more than a couple?

The reason public school doesn't explicitly cost you 10k a year, is because of people like me. So, when you bitch about wanting that 10k to do with as you see fit. Please realize that your actual input is similar to mine, far closer to 50c...

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Hi CNN! #fakenews

This is what it sounds like to me, when people say stuff like this:

https://youtu.be/8U3e0-RHlfc

[Masark]

I never thought I'd see idiocracy come true.

It's not. In the movie, the president found the smartest person around and got them to work on fixing problems.

I don't see that happening.

[Shadowferal]

Its not silly logic. The DoE was created in the 80s and ever since our education standards and levels have dropped like a rock.

The thing we need to worry about most is when Devos does dismantle the DoE, is that we don't allow states, like my own, to start teaching children that evolution is fake and dinosaur bones are planted by Satan to confuse us.

You can be almost certain that that is exactly what will happen.
All you have to do is look at how stupid the Right (or is it alt-Right?) has become these days to see.

[Rotted]

Can someone give a bit more context? I'm not understanding whats happened

[Teleros]

Can someone give a bit more context? I'm not understanding whats happened

People are QQ'ing over someone who wants to abolish government education being confirmed as head of the same. Remember, it's very important that all children be pumped full of propaganda - I mean, sent to their nearest government school.

I'm glad I don't have any kids

I'm glad you don't too, because if your attitude is to leave their education in the hands of the education establishment you clearly shouldn't be breeding.

[Rotted]

People are QQ'ing over someone who wants to abolish government education being confirmed as head of the same. Remember, it's very important that all children be pumped full of propaganda - I mean, sent to their nearest government school.


I'm glad you don't too, because if your attitude is to leave their education in the hands of the education establishment you clearly shouldn't be breeding.

And again forgive me, while I can see why people want the option between government school and private, are government schools subpar in the states?

[Teleros]

And again forgive me, while I can see why people want the option between government school and private, are government schools subpar in the states?

Depends on where you go, but as usual, the bad ones aren't allowed to fail, or the good ones to expand. IIRC, DeVos is a fan of things like voucher systems, meaning that if your local government school sucks, you can send your kids to another one, or even use the voucher to help pay for a private school's fees (assuming no bursaries etc).

But when you have university professors having to re-educate their undergraduates because they honestly believe things like "slavery was a US invention"... oh boy.