Trump administration 2024-2028

[PrairieFella]

"We're not as bad as our southern neighbors, so keep everything the same and double down on what's not working".

If that's what you think my point is, there's no conversing with you.

 

[Brad Sallows]

What's ironic is I imagine your line is usually that this is on the Liberals, which is partly true but it's never accompanied by any tangible ideas to actually fix the issue.

The accumulated deficit is, if you accept that interest payments are part of the cost of something paid for by borrowing and that governments which mostly run operating surpluses that cancel out their occasional operating deficits are mostly not responsible for borrowing costs.

Ironically we are still mostly running federal operating surpluses. The problem is that some governments have decided to run narrower surpluses in order to accommodate more spending during "good" times, which aggravates deficits during "bad" times.

tax cuts (and the second order service cuts those will cause) on the scale the Conservatives are proposing probably won't fix the problem either.

Probably not. The stimulus effect wouldn't be large enough. We should restore the 20.5% rate back up to 22%.

I'll shift gears a bit in terms of federal matters to keep it on the national level of this discussion, since most of what you commented are provincial or municipal jurisdiction, so let's take an industrial carbon tax since it's adjacent to some of your concerns. Perhaps instead of redirecting it to general revenue it should be used to actually fund Green infrastructure, dams, reactors, mass transit, etc.

It should not. The relatively few decision makers in government cannot beat the market at effectively choosing winners and losers. Governments will keep sending good money after bad because they are not disciplined by insolvency or other useful incentives, but are subject to lobbying and other harmful incentives. And the myth of "funded by" has to be destroyed. All that does is allow government to pretend there is a direct connection between some part of revenue and spending, while it allocates everything else to suit. Money is 100% fungible. The dollar we pretend to set aside for a particular thing is just a dollar that is freed up to be spent somewhere else in general revenues.

Eventually that would pay dividends locally and regionally. Perhaps OAS needs to be eliminated for senior earning above $70,000 a year to lessen some strain on federal funds. Perhaps EI reform is needed to keep it solvent. It's intellectually lazy to proclaim the end is nigh but then to propose no solution.

I can't speak for political parties. I have been advocating things like return to higher past income tax rates, elimination of all kinds of subsidies to people not substantially below median income, more for-profit involvement in health care, elimination of newer programs until older ones are fully solvent, much stronger limitations on litigation against large projects, complete elimination of differential treatment of aboriginal citizens and self-governments, etc, for at least a couple of decades here.

 

[brihard]

Regarding Close Protection.

Kristi has a Secret Service detail.

She was in a burger joint.

Dude swiped her Gucci bag, and absconded with it.

According to a former Secret Service agent,

It needs review, for sure. A lot of the time CP details will step back and be out of the way when someone’s settled into something like a restaurant meal. Nobody really likes bodyguards looming over them. Nobody’s really thinking about something like an opportunistic purse-snatching in the CP context; that’s not the threat they’re oriented against. They’re looking out more than looking in.

Not to say a mistake wasn’t made by her detail- maybe, maybe not. It’s worth looking at.

 

[KevinB]

Regarding Close Protection.

Kristi has a Secret Service detail.

She was in a burger joint.

Dude swiped her Gucci bag, and absconded with it.

According to a former Secret Service agent,

She doesn’t have a USSS PD.
She’s DHS, she has a DHS detail.

Very very few folks get USSS details.
President
VP’s
Dependent Children of the above
Former Presidents (reduced details)
Presidentially Directed Personnel (for a while Gen Milley, Amb Bolton - due to Iranian threats)

Some WH staff will get a driver and a protective agent.

The USSS just isn’t big enough to deal with everything it has now let alone look after so many others.

Senators, Congressional Reps get Capital Police
Department Secretary’s can get a detail from their agency (those personnel need to go through FLETC to become Fed LE if their entity isn’t a LEA.

 

[mariomike]

She doesn’t have a USSS PD.
She’s DHS, she has a DHS detail.

Very very few folks get USSS details.
President
VP’s
Dependent Children of the above
Former Presidents (reduced details)
Presidentially Directed Personnel (for a while Gen Milley, Amb Bolton - due to Iranian threats)

Some WH staff will get a driver and a protective agent.

The USSS just isn’t big enough to deal with everything it has now let alone look after so many others.

Senators, Congressional Reps get Capital Police
Department Secretary’s can get a detail from their agency (those personnel need to go through FLETC to become Fed LE if their entity isn’t a LEA.

Gotta love "Da Post".

Double face palm.

The Secret Service provides security for the secretary

Kristi Noem’s swanky Gucci bag, with $3K cash and her passport inside, snatched by thief during outing at DC restaurant

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag with $3,000 of cash in it was stolen during an outing at a Washington, DC, restaurant Sunday night, a spokesperson confirmed to The…

nypost.com

 

[RangerRay]

This guy is a non-stop source of gold for comedians…

Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not given any press briefings in the briefing room but has used the room as a backdrop for TV hits with Fox News.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[KevinB]

Gotta love "Da Post".

Double face palm.

Kristi Noem’s swanky Gucci bag, with $3K cash and her passport inside, snatched by thief during outing at DC restaurant

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag with $3,000 of cash in it was stolen during an outing at a Washington, DC, restaurant Sunday night, a spokesperson confirmed to The…

nypost.com

That story doesn't match some of the other facts as well.

While the USSS technically falls under DHS, the USSS does there best to stay far far away from any actual DHS contact.
They still miss being under Treasury.

 

[daftandbarmy]

This guy is a non-stop source of gold for comedians…

Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not given any press briefings in the briefing room but has used the room as a backdrop for TV hits with Fox News.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Mills Bomb]

There's a lot of irony in the fact the brand villainies trans, while key male figures in the administration are constantly struggling to apply more makeup.

 

[KevinB]

Just because Trump declared something once…

Zelenskyy reminds Trump of 2018 Crimea Declaration that contradicts his recent stance - Euromaidan Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the 2018 Crimea Declaration in a recent post on X amid growing disagreements over the peninsula's status in potential peace negotiations.

euromaidanpress.com

 

[ModlrMike]

Trump is playing this exactly like any malignant narcissist would do. Classic DARVO - Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. Ukraine needs to continue to stand up to him.

 

[RangerRay]

Just because Trump declared something once…

Zelenskyy reminds Trump of 2018 Crimea Declaration that contradicts his recent stance - Euromaidan Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the 2018 Crimea Declaration in a recent post on X amid growing disagreements over the peninsula's status in potential peace negotiations.

euromaidanpress.com

That’s before he figured out how much more money he can make greasing palms with Vlad and his assorted greasy oligarchs.

 

[OldSolduer]

This guy is a non-stop source of gold for comedians…

Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not given any press briefings in the briefing room but has used the room as a backdrop for TV hits with Fox News.

www.cbsnews.com

And I thought Bush Sr and Dubya were the standard. George Carlin where are you!!!! We need you back!!!

 

[Eaglelord17]

Runaway crime is being lower than it was in the 90s and roughly equivalent to the early 2000s? There's work to be done but hyperbole isn't needed. Inflation? 2.3%, right around target. Debt? Too high in my opinion but amongst the lowest as a percentage of GDP amongst the G20. The only thing on your list which is out of control compared to our peers is poverty, despite some objective gains in childhood poverty. I agree there and the scourge needs to be eradicated.

On the whole, it's not as doom and gloom as you seem to believe.

Reported crime is at early 2000s level. Unreported crime is through the roof. It is just normalized to the point that people don’t report most things anymore. I can tell you I never saw someone smoking meth until 4 years ago, and that was on the side of the road. Since then I have seen it at least a dozen times. Cops don’t do anything about it so people don’t call as why waste their breath.

For debt, the GDP argument for Canada is a false flag. We have sub sovereign debt which most the G20 does not. When you add our provincial debts to our federal debt (which is what is being analyzed with the rest of the G20) we are actually in a worse position debt wise.

The glass isn’t half full, it’s people trying to normalize and justify a terrible situation.

 

[McG]

Unreported crime is through the roof.

Made-up & unverifiable stats are the best foundation for logical analysis, especially when supported by an anecdote.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Made-up & unverifiable stats are the best foundation for logical analysis, especially when supported by an anecdote.

Can be verified pretty quick, start arresting those doing drugs in public, stats would skyrocket.

 

[KevinB]

Made-up & unverifiable stats are the best foundation for logical analysis, especially when supported by an anecdote.

Police doing FIDO* due to failure to get anything done once the arrest is processed is a well documented fact.

*Fuck It, Drive On

 

[daftandbarmy]

Made-up & unverifiable stats are the best foundation for logical analysis, especially when supported by an anecdote.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's alot of research out there on crime in general, as well as unreported crime - only one example:

Measuring the extent of crime​

"A second measure attempts to address the problem of under-reporting noted with official crime statistics. These are surveys asking people whether they have been victims of different crimes. Questions on criminal victimization form part of the General Social Survey (GSS) held every five years. In addition, periodic, specialized surveys have been conducted. These surveys find that approximately 40% of crimes go unreported to the police. Furthermore, results from the 1988 and 1993 GSS have shown no change in such crimes as assault and theft and a decrease in others (e.g., robbery)."

Measuring the extent of crime

Is crime on the increase?

www.publicsafety.gc.ca

 

[RangerRay]

Police doing FIDO* due to failure to get anything done once the arrest is processed is a well documented fact.

*Fuck It, Drive On

How much of it is also behaviour that is classed as “disorder”; that which is either not illegal or so minor to be not worth the time for police to effectively deal with? I would think this makes a larger impact on the livability of certain parts of town that won’t show up on crime stats. An example would be an addict or mentally ill person screaming at the moon, waving their arms, swearing at everyone…someone who belongs in care and not wondered streets. He is unlikely to be charged with anything or face any kind of sanction, nor end up in a care facility. I doubt he winds up as a crime statistic, but his behaviour is not helping make his town anymore livable.

 

[McG]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's alot of research out there on crime in general, as well as unreported crime - only one example:

And yet, @Eaglelord17 has provided nothing but anecdote to support his assertion that unreported crime is way up. Your report doesn’t substantiate that claim. He hasn’t substantiated that claim. As I said, it is easy to argue a point if you feel no shame in made-up stats.