Posts by TonusOH

25

In the past 24 hours, the world has been breaking into fragments. What will be the Outcome??

by liam in

new german chancellor merz has won the election.

trump congratulated his victory but the response was not what trump expected.

merz condemned america, saying that america seemed to be aligning with russia.. he also expressed doubts about nato’s future.. he is now advocating that germany must gain independence from usa.

TonusOH

Vidiot: So… what if “Make America Great Again” really means “Make America a Superpower Again”?

If there's one thing Trump knows, it is marketing. People argue over what is meant by "great" and whether the USA was ever great, depending on the metric used. Trump's whole marketing plan is to complain that politicians have gotten so complacent and corrupt that it has dragged the nation down, thus his plan to pull it out of that tailspin.

I never thought that he would really try to "drain the swamp." He admitted that he was a creature of that same swamp, after all. And I don't think he made an attempt at it in his first term. I think this is more of a revenge tour than a legitimate attempt at fixing our government structure, and I think the task is all but impossible. But I'd also love to see a forced shrinking of the federal government; having the curtain pulled back on at least some of the corruption that is wasting taxpayer money would be a bonus.

This all comes with the obvious caveat: anything that his administration finds that might get Republicans in trouble will almost certainly be ignored in favor of targeting the political left. He won't really drain the swamp as much as he will filter out some of the waste and corruption. And, depending on how things go in the next two/four years, any progress he manages to make might simply be unwound by the next administration.

25

In the past 24 hours, the world has been breaking into fragments. What will be the Outcome??

by liam in

new german chancellor merz has won the election.

trump congratulated his victory but the response was not what trump expected.

merz condemned america, saying that america seemed to be aligning with russia.. he also expressed doubts about nato’s future.. he is now advocating that germany must gain independence from usa.

TonusOH

I wouldn't say that we gave away billions to Ukraine (although there is the matter of the tens of billions that seem to have "disappeared"). The money might even be considered well-spent (again, except for any that was possibly stolen) if it helped to expose Russia's weaknesses and give them a bloody nose on the international stage (an injury that will feel a lot less painful if he gets what he wants from these negotiations, which seems likely).

Trump is taking advantage of Ukraine's (and the EU's) plight to get a favorable long-term deal out of it. The idea is that, if the USA has a vested (economic) interest in keeping it independent, it is worth it to Ukraine to agree to the deal. But if the deal does not include boots on the ground, it will remain very vulnerable to future Russian agression. If there is anything that shows us that Trump is not a politician, (or not a typical one, anyway) it's his willingness to make such baldly lopsided offers, knowing that there's a good chance he will get what he wants.

I'm curious how future administrations (especially Democrat administrations) will deal with all of these changes. But I'm in no rush to find out. There is one thing for sure: when Trump speaks of putting America first, he is doing so honestly and unapologetically. That's refreshing, to a degree.

25

In the past 24 hours, the world has been breaking into fragments. What will be the Outcome??

by liam in

new german chancellor merz has won the election.

trump congratulated his victory but the response was not what trump expected.

merz condemned america, saying that america seemed to be aligning with russia.. he also expressed doubts about nato’s future.. he is now advocating that germany must gain independence from usa.

TonusOH

EU and NATO nations contributing more to their own defense and security can only be a good thing in the long run. Many people decry the way the USA meddles and plays "world police." One way to push back against that is to become less dependent on the USA for their safety. Time to start increasing their military budgets and growing their armed forces. Rip that bandaid off now.

19

On the anniversary of Anthony Morris' Resignation

by Vanderhoven7 in

strange that after 2 years we still don't know the facts about anthony's resignation.

grant davus writes:.

the announcement.

TonusOH

If it is true that he is dealing with cognitive decline and the response from the rest of the GB is to bury him, I have to think that one of two things must be true:

1. He was one miserable asshole.

OR

2. His fellow GB members are a collection of miserable assholes.

Why not explain that he was stepping down due to health? That would be perfectly reasonable.

I hope that he was pushed out in some sort of power struggle. If the GB are the kind of people who would treat him like this because of mental decline, that is very, very messed up.

7

When God Hates something or certain things are we expected not to do it 100%?

by Longlivetherenegades in

when god hates certain things does that mean you are not expected to do that particular thing or certain things 100% .

1. god hates divorce does that mean we are not expected to divorce at all?

(hint: jesus allow divorce) .

TonusOH

According to the Bible, the only thing that god will not forgive is blasphemy against the holy spirit (Matt 12:31).

15

Dodge has found 4.7 Trillion Dollars in Untraceable money

by liam in

elon was looking at the way they audit within the government agencies.

he found there are no links to payments made.

250 million payment………..to………………..consultant……..name ………..unknown.

TonusOH

DOGE was intended to be an 18-month investigation that would return with recommendations for action. Providing these quick-and-dirty updates can be a problem, since it creates a narrative that may be wrong, or that may be too ambitious. Identifying waste is good and I am all for it, but creating unrealistic expectations could backfire in two years.

I think the federal government is massively oversized, and reducing the number of people it employs is a critical part of what DOGE will (may?) help accomplish. But there needs to be pushback to make sure the exectutive is not overstepping its bounds. If the solution to our problems involves giving the President even more power, it's not a viable solution.

And that's before we consider stuff like the idea that there will be $5,000 checks being sent to "taxpayers." One of the main reasons Trump was elected was because people were unhappy with inflation during the prior four years. How is a $5,000 stimulus check to each taxpayer going to reduce inflation???

25

Her Handbag Told Her to Stop Preaching

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/qzpj3kzgidi?si=x1xazpqmed1zq5h2.

ah, yes, another shining example of the watchtower’s *unmatched* commitment to rational thought.

forget logic, science, or even basic common sense—just blame that suspiciously cursed handbag for all your troubles!

TonusOH

Using the handbag in the ministry, she experienced powerful thoughts of “Go home!” Bad thoughts rushed into her mind almost audibly, all of them anti-kingdom.

I'm guessing that the real story is that this woman was starting to have doubts about "the truth" and eventually was convinced to fall in line and decided to excuse her near-apostasy by blaming... HER ANTI-JW HANDBAG. I mean, yeah, it sounds stupid. But the best part is that she was believed and even had her experience immortalized in a JW publication!

And, yes, I heard those stories in the 1980s as well. Especially after the purge in the early 80s that got rid of Ray Franz, there were plenty of people worried that Satan and his demons were on full attack against the WTS because they knew the end was so near. My mother was part of a small group of sisters who loved to discuss this stuff, and who were constantly on the lookout for things that might serve as an invitation to evil spirits (woooOOOOOoooo!).

16

July 25 WT Study ....Moving Out?

by mikeflood in

third study article....as people moved out of jerusalem before the romans attacked on 70 ce...perhaps there are gonna be instructions for us today about us ...leaving possessions and houses...and moving to a different place.!!.

.

maybe that fits on 'receiving instructions that are not sound by a human pointof view' ??

TonusOH

Maybe someone can remind them of the time they encouraged those who were selling possessions and quitting jobs so they could warn everyone about the coming end... in 1975.

10

Trump confirms, the Goal is to ABOLISH the IRS. No More Taxes for Citizens.

by liam in

trump said in another speech, had the citizens never voted democrat, and rinos were more concern about the citizens than lining their own pockets, the government would of had enough money to buy every citizen a home, car, full paid college education, and all social security recipients would be receiving 100k a year.

the trillions of dollars that were stolen by democrats and rinos and given to other countries for transgender surgeries, wars in other countries, and other worthless stuff throughout the years, could have been invested in so many avenues, and american citizens would be the richest people in the entire world and the most innovative.

don’t ever vote democrat again.

TonusOH

You could drastically reduce --if not outright eliminate-- the IRS and still collect taxes. Just simplify the tax code.

Heck, you could probably collect more in taxes while lowering the tax burden for most taxpayers (and keeping the lowest rungs untaxed). You could also more easily make sure 'the rich/corporations pay their fair share.' But the tax code isn't designed for this. It's a massive, byzantine mess that provides lots of employment for the tax prep industry and far too much power for the IRS and whoever wants to misuse it.

No one ever made things more complex because they wanted people to understand it better, or because they wanted it to work more efficiently. Simplify the tax code, and you fix a lot of problems. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that congress wants to fix that particular problem. If politicians do not want to provide the obvious fix for a glaring problem, then they don't see it as a problem. Which means they're either monumentally stupid or perfectly happy with a bad situation.

9

They were trying to spread Transgender ideology, DEI, Green New Deal to the entire World

by liam in

the plan the democrats in the usa were trying to implement world wide was their ideology.

they wanted open borders for every country, they wanted to rid the middle class entirely.

they wanted a small group of people to run the world.

TonusOH

The government of the USA was designed around a bottom-up approach; the states managed their own affairs with limited interference from the federal government, which was small and kept in check by the states. The states would then send representatives to discuss larger issues that affected the nation as a whole and the President was tasked with helping to carry out any directives okayed by congress, as well as being the outward-facing part of our government.

We have spent too long moving power from the states to the federal government and to the executive branch in particular. The idea that so much tax revenue is being spent through "departments" and "programs" with little or no oversight should literally be a crime. The habit of the President using executive orders to bypass our systems of checks and balances has clearly gotten out of hand. And now we have a situation where that excess power granted to the President is the only reason we are finding out about the insane amounts of hidden spending that has been going on for far too long.

Any spending item should be presented to congress to vote on. Period. And it should not be laden down with dozens --if not hundreds-- of earmarks to hide overspending in plain sight. Especially when the added spending is for items that have nothing to do with the original request. They will ask for a modest budget approval for something like building infrastructure or helping the homeless, then they will stuff it full of items that have nothing to do with it. When someone complains about the excess crap that has been added, they are criticized for denying funding for infrastructure or the homeless.

It's no wonder we are operating with runaway deficit spending. They have stripped out the checks and balances and left only a system, one that can and is relentlessly abused by career politicians who can't explain how they have gotten wealthy on a relatively modest congressional salary (although "modest" is probably stretching it).