MidWestGuy

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That’s not what evidence indicates but that doesn’t stop Americans from frothing at the bit at the thought of locking someone in a cage for 500 years.

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The threat of criminal penalties is therefore only significant if an individual believes there is a high risk of being caught for committing a crime. But since most crimes, whether minor property offenses or serious violent crimes, don’t in fact result in arrest and conviction, there is little reason for most potential offenders to consider the severity of penalties.


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So we are in agreement?

Enforce the laws, have a well staffed police force to catch the criminals, and a judicial system to provide swift consequences to the guilty, and most potential offenders *will* consider the severity of penalties?

Glad we got that cleared up.

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Obviously crimes of passion aren’t committed with consequences in mind.

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So, if they face some extreme lock up, maybe they *will* have consequences in mind before committing the next act?

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Reporter Maher Kawash

Just another Illinois farmboy

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Actually, not far off. He went to Plainfield HS, Plainfield is a far SW suburb, and there's farmland around there. Graduated Eastern IL Uni, also a pretty rural area.

Has anyone ever done a deep dive into Kamala's claim she worked at McDonald's?

The story about 'no records' isn't very persuasive, each place is a franchise, McDonald's corporate wouldn't have records of the employees of each and every franchise, and I wouldn't expect a franchisee to keep records of every part time summer worker for that long.

But... when someone becomes famous, every person who knew them growing up comes out of the woodwork to 'brag' about it, or just seek attention. Kamala would have had co-workers and friends that would have remembered here, some are probably rabid-left wing libs today, so would be jumping up and down, waving their hands, "I knew her back then!!!!".

Yet, all I've heard of was, her friend says she remembers Kamala's deceased mother 'mentioning it' at some point. That's all.

Might seem trivial, but if she would lie about that...

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Would you be willing to lie during voir dire, in an attempt to get a place on that jury?

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I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that.

But I don't doubt that there are some people who would do it, in order to get on the jury. Especially since one person can result in a hung jury, that may be their goal. They want the accused to get off. They think the law doesn't apply to 'them', so they will interfere with it to get their way (like the 'mostly peaceful protestors' interfering with ICE agents).

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Imagine if he paid taxes like us common folk.

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He does. He also creates a ton of new jobs.

The Top 1% folks pay 40% of income taxes

The Top 5% folks pay 61% of income taxes

The Bottom 50% of taxpayers paying income taxes pay 3% of all income taxes.

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It's actually worse than that. Those stats don't include the many filers who get a *credit*. That would shift the stat considerably.

from AI:

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The exact number of filers who had their total credits (especially refundable ones) exceed their total payments (withholding and other payments) is difficult to pinpoint with publicly available data, as the IRS primarily reports total numbers of refunds issued and specific credit recipients.

However, data indicates this occurs for a significant number of taxpayers, largely due to refundable tax credits which can result in a "negative" tax liability (meaning the government pays the filer more than they paid in). Key data points in recent years (Tax Year 2022 and Fiscal Year 2024): About 23 million eligible workers and families received the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for Tax Year 2022, a primary refundable credit. For Fiscal Year 2024, nearly 14.3 million tax refunds included a refundable Child Tax Credit and more than 21.4 million included a refundable EITC.

A report from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation indicated that 31% of tax filers owed no federal income tax in 2022 after credits and deductions were applied.

Some analyses suggest that when including refundable tax credits, a significant portion of the lowest-earning taxpayers (e.g., the bottom 50% of earners) effectively face a negative federal income tax rate overall, meaning they receive a net transfer from the government via the tax system. These figures demonstrate that many millions of filers receive a net credit from their Federal Income Tax, particularly those in lower-to-middle income brackets who are eligible for significant refundable credits.

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So they are or they aren’t currently proposing to tax 401(k) and pension plans?

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I don't think there is any actual 'proposal', just 'concern'.

It will be 'interesting' - currently IL has a 4.95% State income tax. But SS, 401-K/IRA, and pension income is not taxed as income by IL.

But if they decide to tax pension income, the public unions (like the teacher's union) will have a hissy-fit, and claim their pension is IL Constitutionally protected. So would IL tax private pension income, and not tax public pension income? Hmmm.

Note that for IL teachers (and some others), their IL pension is *in place of* Social Security - they don't pay into SS and they get no SS benefits (unless they paid into SS in a different job - then there are other WEP/GPO rules).

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AI

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Yes. Very odd how that arm goes out, and where did that spray can appear from?

The real problem is, AI will get better, and it will be hard to tell. Please don't post w/o a link to something credible.

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Nobody in America is qualified to teach college

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OK, start a new thread on whether we should have allowed immigrants in to teach college in the 1980's. Maybe not, but...

that has absolutely nothing to do with whether they were here legally, and whether Usha Vance is an American.

I'm so tired of this shtick - you leftists are proven wrong, and rather than admit it, you change the subject, move the goal posts. So predictable.

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If he loves Americans so much why didn’t he marry one

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He did. She is an American citizen, born to parents who were here legally, for years before she was born.

I'm not sure her parents (professors at San Diego UCSD and SDSU), and ever applied for citizenship, but they are obviously here legally, or the MSM would have been all over that.

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