Sorry Frank - I didn't like that comment at all. Whether police, sheriff, or correction officer these men put their lives on the line every day. Dennis is much more conservative than me; but like me he is entitled to his opinion.

I don't disagree with the 2nd amendment, although I do believe that there should be some sort of middle ground to prevent known nuts from having access to them. Two of my best friends are gun collectors; and although I don't currently own one, I have thought about getting one to carry - I hear on the news every morning that the local city, Philadelphia, had another person k**led by gun fire. One of those DA's that Dennis is talking about is in Philadelphia and the state legislature is trying to impeach him.

Nor is this a color issue; I was at a Good Friday service sitting with a black preacher where we had a pretty good discussion about the failings of that particular DA.

BTW Dennis - have a good Easter. I'm playing the Easter Bunny today and spreading eggs around 3 PM for the egg hunt for my seven grandkids and grand nieces and nephews. I'll hop away now.

Believe or not I was waiting for that comment. Like everyone else, as a human, I have my share of sins, notably being pretty p***eful and I really curse too much.

What I have never done is swindle people, lied seemingly with every breath, promoted a theory of e******n f***d which will cause every e******n going forward to be questioned, advised that US advisors are less reliable then comments from dictators from China and Russia, questioned the sacrifice of our military dead, caused people to die by having open air spreader events in a time of contagion, belittled women, or lied about making a profit while hawking bibles that promote my agenda.

Nor am I throwing stones physically at Trump, although given a chance I might throw a tomato or cabbage given half a chance.

I will remind you of the comments of former Chief of Staff General Kelly, who worked with Trump daily who said that Trump: "is the most flawed person” he's ever known. I dealt indirectly through clients with Trump when he was in Atlantic City - my opinion is that he is a scoundrel of the first order; and contrary to what many of you think of him that is he pushing a Republican agenda, Trump is for no one but himself and his family.

Next you may think I love Biden. Sorry, I think this e******n may be again which is "the lesser of two evils."

Perhaps they, like you, are looking at this through Rose-Colored glasses. If you want to do a little research, you might want to read this:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/03/what-to-know-about-donald-trumps-new-60-bible/
According to the website for the Bible: "GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign. GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Ventures LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates."

CIC gets a royalty for the book. Guess who owns CIC?

In [Trump’s] financial disclosure released last year, he’s identified as the [CIC Ventures LLC’s] “manager, president, secretary and treasurer” and the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust is identified as a 100 percent owner of the business. The same entity also receives royalties from his book “A MAGA Journey” and speaking engagements.

In case it’s not already obvious: if you look at the company’s documents, you’ll find the principal address for CIC Ventures LLC is 3505 Summit Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Florida. That is a Trump golf course.

So contrary to the clergy, they don't know what they are talking about - Trump is profiting from the word of the Lord.

I note you didn't comment about a man who seeming violates the Ten Commandments pushing his Bible. Maybe he should take the time to read it and adjust his life accordingly.

I viewed with horror as a Christian that Trump is now hawking Bibles to help him finance his campaign. There’s a pretty good article that outlines a lot of my objections. Particularly as today is Good Friday, the remembrance of Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice to save we mortals from our sins:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/03/trump-god-bless-usa-bible-lee-greenwood-reviews-paper-moon-o-brother-where-art-thou.html

The article compared Trump to the Grifters of the 1930’s and movie characters. I think he is extremely accurate in his description.

The article quotes 2 Corintians 2:17 – Bible Reference https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=2+Corinthians+2%3A17

The passage states the following:
ESV For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. NIV Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Simply again – you do not profit from our creator’s words, to do so is blasphemy.

I also find it ironic that Trump, who has violated at least three of the Ten Commandments is pushing his Bible:

Number 7: You shall not commit adultery – Stormy Daniels and the Playboy Bunny while his wife was carrying his youngest son. His past includes c***ting on his first and second wife.

Number 8. You shall not steal – F**e charity, f**e university, and the best one stiffing investors and contractors in Atlantic City.

Number 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. In other words, you shall not lie. Trump continues to give falsehoods, including about the 2020 e******n.

And this guy, Trump, is pushing the word of God to make money – this is nothing short of shameful. He is not worthy of the Presidency.

My pleasure to help out - that's what this forum is all about.

You are correct the left are nuts but they generally seek help.

The right is nuts as well, but seeking help is unmanly.

I shoot primarily Sony now, but I thought you Canon shooters might be interested.

I owned a couple of Canon refurb lenses and they were a great deal.

https://www.canonrumors.com/big-refurb-sale-eos-r5-2399-eos-r5-c-3199-and-lots-more/

[quote=Shutterbug1697]Thank you for bringing up Trump's previous deals with the Russian oligarch's. Here's a report on the topic:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/

Did Joe Biden get money from China - it looks like only $40,000 was traced to Biden's brother to Joe, the other large sum mentioned by Comer remain illusive. The $40,000 appears as a personal loan payment by the brother back to Joe - it will be tough proving it was anything else.

In the meantime, Trump received $7.8 million from China per this:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/01/biden-getting-impeached-for-less-than-trumps-china-scandal.html

In any case, do Americans really want any of these guys beholden to Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia?

You aren't paying attention again Rac. This was answered before by me in this stream:

A few weeks ago here I advised that Trump would have extreme difficulty in getting a bond anymore in that amount. The capacity either doesn't exist or the domestic admitted (licensed) market would be unwilling to risk their capital given some of Trumps issues in the past (Trump Taj, etc,). This is an article on how he stiffed investors:
https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politics/donald-trump-atlantic-city-finances/index.html

Investors/banks have long memories.

His major lender is foreign, Deutsche Bank.

[quote=DennyT]” Trump faces 'insurmountable difficulties' in securing $464M bond in civil fraud case, his attorneys say
“

A few weeks ago here I advised that Trump would have extreme difficulty in getting a bond anymore in that amount. The capacity either doesn't exist or the domestic admitted (licensed) market would be unwilling to risk their capital given some of Trumps issues in the past (Trump Taj, etc,). This is an article on how he stiffed investors:
https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politics/donald-trump-atlantic-city-finances/index.html

and how he stiffed contractors:
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/mike-kelly/2020/01/24/donald-trump-still-owes-money-to-contractors-who-built-taj-mahal-atlantic-city/4547037002/

Bankers/Insurance markets have a very, very long memory when they get stiffed.

His current financing is through Deutsche Bank.

Melania's going to be mad if she has to move out of Trump Tower. Does hell hath no fury like a women that has to move out of a NY Penthouse?

You are splitting hairs, no surprise. If you know anything about corporate finance with 50% of the v****g shares, in a company that has multiple owners, it controls the company. With a lesser spread 51% would be the magic number. Likewise if you own the company, but someone else pulls the overall strings, the owner is really just a surrogate for the puppet-master, in this case the Chinese government.

The Chinese government seems to follow in many ways the Russian model using oligarchs, ownership is divided between those loyal to the regime who are experts in their respective field, but follow the guidelines imposed by the central government. Zhang may "own" the stock, but he's really just a surrogate for the central government. Using this methodology, Zhang can say I own the company not "them," being the Chinese government, but per our US analysis he's just a rich puppet. Like Russia, if the oligarchs step out of line - they should start making funeral plans:
https://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-people-putin-is-suspected-of-assassinating-2016-3

We are entering more and more into the era of AI, corporations like Google know one crapload about who you like, your health issues, what you eat and so on; hence the need for barriers on your browsing, etc. Do you really want the Chinese government to know the same things (btw they already know a lot about you). Also China allows Tic-Toc in their country, but bans Facebook, etc. which is American owned. Why should we allow Tic-Toc to operate here, when they ban our companies?

Should I have awakened your paranoia - it goes deeper. Scientists and engineers are working on quantum computers that are well beyond our current binary machines that will make your conventional security codes, passwords, etc obsolete. And their usage is not far away.

Take it a little further, suppose you subscribe to a data base like 23 and me; if the Chinese has access to your dna, can they, in this era of gene editing, make up a contagion that targets a particular populace? Scary stuff.

Last point, do you think politicians might change there position on issues once they find the people that they opposed start writing big fat checks to the politician's re-e******n fund?

Neither are totally correct.
According to Reuters, the former CEO of ByteDance is Zhang Yiming, who control 50% of the v****g stock.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/what-do-we-know-about-tiktoks-chinese-owner-bytedance-2024-03-15/

In September 2020, the Trump's Department of Justice called Zhang a "mouthpiece" of the Chinese C*******t Party in a legal filing:https://www.npr.org/2020/09/26/917134452/new-doj-filing-tiktoks-owner-is-a-mouthpiece-of-chinese-c*******t-party

Side note: Interesting now that Trump as flip-flopped on getting Tic-Toc away from the Chinese.

My opinion - the House Bill is correct.

[quote=travelwp]Interesting insults; seems to be the Trump's MAGA groups stock in trade - anti-liberal, c****e, freeloaders and so on. The Dems see the Republicans as soul-les hypocrites at best; n**is or f*****ts at worst. The Republicans seem not willing to be flexible on anything, Dems flexible on everything. Inertia is the prevailing reality.

On This Week on ABC this morning there was an interesting discussion with v**ers, who like me, want neither Biden or Trump. For the last few e******ns many of us weren't v****g for a candidate, but v****g against the perceived "greater evil." Neither Party wants to listen to the people and if these two bozos are on the b****t, which it appears they will, the perceived "lesser of two evils" will carry the day.

Two men, both too old, with old ideas. Pretty sad for the glorious country of ours.

[quote=robertjerl]A very good read is K*****g the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan by Bill o'Reilly.A number of leaders, notably MacArthur, wanted to invade Japan. As was pointed out the civilian populace was ready to fight to the death on behalf of the Emperor. Allied casualties forecasts were as high a potential as1,000,000. The atomic bomb and the Invasion of Manchuria by the Russians together forced the issue.

O'Reilly made an interesting point at the end of the book - his Father was an ensign off of Japan, and had a very good chance of dying due to the success of the Kamikaze suicide planes. Some 7,000 deaths on Allied ships were attributed to the kamikaze. O'Reilly felt that he might not have been born if the war had continued.

I was shocked when I read it because I was in the same situation. My Father volunteered for the Navy, but was rejected for being too near-sighted. He ended up in the Merchant Marine. At the end of the war, he was serving on a hospital ship off Japan. The kamikaze did not care if there was a Red Cross on the ship or not, it was still a target. I was in the same situation as O'Reilly.

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-immigrants-parole-biden-trump-musk-dbd634820b3f8d07b859b8a05b2b20a7