All_Pro_Bills

The latest stats I could find are from 2021 that said NYC has about 36K tax filers making $1 million+. Probably a good assumption there's somewhat more people making that much in 2025. So I think the plan is to tax the crap out of those $1M earners to pay for all the goodies for everybody else. Maybe drive it down to those at $400K? The problem is the basic tax the rich approach which is attractive to voters wanting a lot of perks but not wanting to pay for them directly creates a lot of disincentives for high income individuals to stay in the city. many could decide to leave and set up permanent residency in lower tax States. Which erodes the tax base and makes the expected additional tax revenue vanish. Given the reality that technology has the capability to render the mid-town Manhattan office complex obsolete if you're willing to deal with the lower productivity with working-from-home arrangements and it gives high earners more options than just staying and paying. It changes the decision from having to be in NYC to wanting to be in NYC. Don't think for a minute New Jersey and Connecticut won't be dangling lots of incentives to large employers to leave Manhattan and move to their States.

If Israel wants to be certain the sites and the nuclear material and enrichment equipment have been destroyed they're going to have to send in ground forces.

A victory in the Mayoral general election will provide Democrats almost 3 years time prior to the 2028 national election to destroy NYC.

It's is complicated and i need to say being an American does not obligate a person to side with the government. And if I'm being objective about the situation rather than taking the "American perspective" I don't see any good guy here. I think the cease fire is a farce and hostilities will soon resume. Whether or not those sites and the uranium were destroyed is unimportant. I see the strikes as reinforcing the desire to develop nukes. Mainly, to deter other attacks. I've seen comments out of Russia and China critical of US action with pledges to support Iran. Whatever that means. So far both countries have decided to sit this one out. Other comments saying well just "give" Iran some nuclear weapons. What would be the response to that? Sanction Russia? Doing that already. Direct confrontation? Our forces are superior but there's risk of end of world scenarios. And what about China? They see Iran as essential to their belt and road initiative and global ambitions. The Clerics ruling, maybe not so much. Add to the mixture Trump's penchant to act like a 20 ton truck with no road manners and it's a very volatile situation. Lots of ways everything could go sideways. This could drag on for a lot longer than most think.

The Prez should not be negotiating cease fire or any other deals through social media. Trump's fatal flaw may be he fails to distinguish between the functional roles of US President and Corporate CEO. They are definitely different.

On the other side of the coin the Iranians did not trust the inspectors as they suspected the International Atomic Energy Agency personnel were providing intelligence about the program and the facilities to the U.S. and Israel.

I watch this clip and all I see is what looks like an abandoned series of rail cars from the 1950's.

Maybe they removed the enriched Uranium and maybe they didn't. Same goes for the equipment. But even if they did their only option currently is to store it away until some future time when they have rebuilt a facility to enrich it further. Unless anyone believes they have a Plan B secret back-up enrichment facility. Without access to the actual and true intelligence assessments, my suspicion is the story they were days or weeks away from having the fuel for a series of nuclear weapons is equivalent to the Bush era Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) excuse to invade Iraq. Which removed Saddam from power and as a consequence eliminated Iran's natural enemy and the force in the region keeping them in check. After that the Clerics were free to operate. If ever there was an example of mind your own business and the abysmal record of Washington's nation building and regime change operations this might be it. In a word, our government, regardless of which party is in power is bad at it. Maybe Libya was worse? They should stick to raising our taxes and wasting our money. They do that very well.

Not to worry. Any Iranian sleeper cell operatives arrested will be greeted by Sen. Van Hollen, the patron saint of lost causes, with a cool and refreshing margarita and demands for "due process" and immediate release.

Evidence? What a concept. I'd dare say the evidence of an iminent threat has been destroyed. Or perhaps the evidence of there not being any immenent threat has been destroyed. Either way, that secret will most certainly be kept well hidden by the governments of America and Isreal. For me the major theme at play remains intact. If you want to protect yourself from attacks launched at the whims of countries possessing big league military capabilities and nuclear weapons you better get some nukes too as that seems to be the only deterrent they fear.

I think at a minimum Trump should bring Congressional leadership of both parties into the room and share the intel and conversation on the mreits and the mision with these representatives of Congress. That would be a more consensus building approach rather than a series of one liners that he will decide what to do here. This may be happening but I've heard little on what is customary protocol.

Obama's an off the shelf lib narcissist intellectual type that thinks he's always the smartest guy in the room.

I think you're on the right path here. But regarding point 5, "What is motivating the United States government in this conflict?", before replying to this point I'd ask which United States? Because America is unique among the nations of the world. It is both a country and an empire. And what motivates actors doing the bidding of the country is different from what motivates those doing the bidding of the Empire. Adding to this, the Empire is not simply composed of Americans. Its composed of entities like the international banking system, aligned foreign interests, multi-national corporations, and vassal states and allies such as many European nations, Japan, to name some. I'm not sure why more people don't see this dual personality disorder as it can explain much of what goes on. So when I hear America First I don't think of isolationists like some here will cry, or America alone. I hear America the country first not America alone, the empire second. The Empire is never alone. Actors line Pompeo, Bolton, other neocons do the bidding and act in the interest of the Empire. Neoliberals too. They've all come out of the woodwork this week advocating for US intervention, which is no surprise as that's their primary mission in life. As a group they must be as excited as Baseball fans on opening day! Conversely, the populist movement is composed of citizens that are tired of endless wars and interventions that divert resources from what they see as domestic priorities. These people and some conservative compose the interests in America the country. Surprisingly, many liberals and leftist do too. Like Bernie Sanders for example. Only 19% of Trump voters in a recent poll support direct intervention. So for Trump the risk of direct US military involvement is losing his audience rather early in his term. Because Republicans can't win elections without this large block of voters (too bad the democrats can't figure it out and move to the center and get these people back). So the dilemma is the risk of losing his base vs. letting Iran off the hook here to fight another day and let Israel handle the problem. As for Iran, the smart thing to do would be to agree to a nuclear deal with inspections. But not some unconditional surrender scenario. If I'm them (which I am not) I'd do this on the condition that Israel submit to inspections and monitoring too. Because they already possess nuclear weapons and there's nothing in their recent actions that tell me they can be trusted any more than Iran can be trusted. Of course the Israeli's will respond to this condition with a vehement "no" but bringing this condition to the table will expose the issue to the discussion the servants of the Empire and Israel don't want to have at any point.

Rather than paint themselves into a corner Isreal has cleverly manipulated the situation by placing pressure and focus on the US to become directly involved in the conflict. Publicly placing responsibility for the fate of the world exposed to the potential of Iranian nuclear weapons that don't exist at present. Playing us like a puppet. My view is stay out and leave them to sink or swim. This nonsensical world cop thing aside it's their fight not ours.

The thing is, that's the contemptuous attitude that drives these groups together. Snooty full of themselves know it all's that look down with contempt on anyone that doesn't share their enlightened world view.

Rewind the clock back to 1953 when America.via the CIA initiated a coup against the democratically elected government in Iran ino order to save American and British oil interests in the country from nationalization. Installed the dictatorship in the form of the Shah until 1979 when the Clerics took over. One bad guy for another. I'll leave the lesson to be learned here about the short and long term consequences of intervention to others.

I can say with close to 100% confidence that no theoretical Iranian nukes are pointed at the USA mainland. Why would they be? If they're pointed anywhere they are pointed at Isreal. But they don't exist. Blowing up some underground research facility will do nothing to neutralize operational nuclear weapons. And if the Clerics running the country are faced with total defeat they'll use them if they have them. And if they have them then the mission needs to be taking the active nukes out. Not research facilities. Logically, focusing on taking out research leads to conclude no active capability exists.

I think Trump's team has done a very poor job of making and communicating the justifications for direct American involvement. Social media posts are amateurish and no substitute for facts and details. The President's statements are vague rambling. A poll indicated only 19% of Trump voters support engagement. Overall, 16% of Americans support involvement. At some point the Clerics need to go. But here Isreal started this campaign and its not our problem they lack the capacity to neutralize underground facilities. Let then send in ground forces to finish the mission. And likely incur significant casualties. That's not our problem to address. Trump campaigned on a pledge of no new wars. If he falls for Isreal's manipulation here he'll lose significant support. It it worth the political capital to do Netanyahu 's dirty work? Do this and he'll lose the audience.

Judging and stereotyping people by their appearance. That's the core of diversity. The distinction between diversity/DEI and good old traditional racism is instead of terrorizing minority groups for their appearance they are rewarded. Even so, that's still racist. Just admit it.

Washington always has a soft spot for interventions although I can't recall one that didn't end badly. The neocons are once again all excited about another war and democrats are dreaming about how many millions of Iranian refugees they can squeeze into the country starting in 2028. Like the imaginary Iraq WMD I can hardly wait to find out the true extent of Iran's nuclear program. That might be why they're so eager to destroy the evidence. Or it could be the other way. That's how governments work. You never know who's telling the truth and who's not. My base assumption is they're all lying. I think it was George Carlin that said if all politicians started telling the truth the entire system would clapse into chaos and that everything is based on a foundation of BS.

Please don't poop on my lawn How many times must I warn Know that I won't take your crap So please don't interrupt my nap

After the Bills playoff win I felt sorry for the Ravens and their fans. For about 5 minutes. Then I thought of how we've had our share of heartbreaking losses so better them than us. But a week later most of us felt the Bills left the victory on the field too. Just like Baltimore the week before. So we all got to feel that way one more time. I expect we won't hear any Bills player saying they're looking for revenge against the Chiefs. Just that they've got to come out and play better. I don't think its the smartest thing going into week 1 to say your out for revenge. Our any game for that matter. I suspect the addition of more hurt feelings resulting from the MVP vote has something to do with this too. But the voters here made the correct choice. It's an award based on value, not statistics.

Liberals have been creaming in their panties fantasizing about assassinating Trump, and now that some nut job has gone ahead and killed a state senator and her husband in an apparent act of political expression they're chorus line echo chamber is voicing the obligatory outrage against political assassination. And blaming knuckle dragging "MAGA people" for coming up with the idea. Idiots with no self-awareness of their own violent tendencies.

Maybe more what they deserve rather than what they want.

What is left out of the story is the 1953 CIA led coup that installed the Shah to power. This was done to block plans to nationalize western oil holdings. This is the root cause of much of the country's animosity towards the U.S. Joining this war now would only reinforce the view that American Middle East policy is directed by Isreal. I don't believe that but this would cause a review of that conclusion. Seems like Trump is getting played like a fiddle here. Sure Iran should be blocked from acquiring nuclear weapons because the regime is unstable. But Isreal has nuks and convince me they wouldn't use them if the circumstances required or if they were threatened with defeat. Maybe they should be required to surrender those warheads as part of any peace deal?