359 Comments
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Kathie Punturiero's avatar

I haven’t read the full update yet but I felt compelled to share my enjoyment of the descriptions of the liars. You especially captured the essence of Vance. Thank you and also for the hard work you do to prepare the update!

Julie's avatar

I love these updates. Vance is terrible. Smug and oily and just completely repulsive.

Susan McDonald's avatar

Johnson is awful, too “Big Lie Mike” (BLM) So smarmy. Such a Christian!

Margaret's avatar

CINO. Xtian. Whited sepulcher.

Fraser's avatar

Yes, the Vance take is getting close to the non-essence of this irrelevant being!!

Vau Geha's avatar

I've gone and watched that Vance interview in full on YouTube, the whole 12:41 min. It's infuriating but also in a certain way revealing. Vance starts with a statement of about one minute too vague to actually be false but very misleading after that Stephanopoulos asks four or five questions that need to be asked, asks two follow ups every time, receives misleading answers mixed with half-truths each time. Vance is even warning that he won't go any nearer to truth two or three times. Then there's that cut you will probably miss it you don't know it's there.

It's obvious that the White House now edits their interviews at least on ABC and is allowed to keep it quiet. Disgusting!

Judi Lakin's avatar

Here is the ugly truth the Vance & Johnson are not saying—the president made a deal with the millionaires & billionaires that if they would finance his campaign and get him elected he would give them big tax cuts. And that is why there is no money for anything else and the citizens are getting screwed and people are going to suffer! If the top 1% were just paying their fair share we would have what is needed.

Kathie Punturiero's avatar

It is particularly galling to see a ballroom being added to the WH and a proposed arch. The Qatari military base is also frightening.

Susan Cooper's avatar

Yes, DJT wants his American version of the Arc de Triomphe; just like he wanted a military parade in his honor after the one he saw in France during Trump 1.0.

Bob's avatar

Not an actual base of its own; it’s a bunch of buildings on an existing base. How exactly is that supposed to improve Mideast security? Are Qatari fighter pilots going to do nothing like the Saudis? Of course, the more pilots trained to fly US made warplanes, the more of those can be sold.

Kathie Punturiero's avatar

Regardless of the particulars it is a permanent or semi-permanent military presence on US territory and I don’t like that. Just my humble opinion

Bob's avatar
Oct 12Edited

Agreed. It doesn’t feel like a simple training deal, which if they bought US made planes they’d get anyway. This all part of the corruption. Can Jared’s corrupt hands be far away?

Donna R.'s avatar

What's bizarre is that the U.S. has an air force base in Qatar.

The U.S. sells F-15 all over the world like candy. I used to work for a company that produced military aircraft engines. We cranked out F-15 parts like crazy.

Bob's avatar

Yeah, it’s not like those planes are only at a few bases in the US. As with anything out of the ordinary with Trump, the likelihood of corruption is huge.

Betty Amstutz Gerson's avatar

Unfortunately, my country, Switzerland 🇨🇭, bought a bunch of them during the Biden administration and has really lived to regret that one. There’s talk about annulling the deal now. The USA 🇺🇸 has lost so much sympathy everywhere in the world 🌎.

K B's avatar

I think he's going to their soldiers against US citizens, because he knows the US military won't do it!

Allison's avatar

Imagine if they had been paying their fair share from the time those tech companies were started. They’d be used to it and the world would be a much better place without their sense of entitlement, maybe, just maybe.

Oaktown's avatar

I can't think of a better outcome for the AGI contestants than to borrow themselves into a hole and have their VC investors wake up to the massive grift they invested in. Boom! No more money, no more data centers, and the richest people in the world lose a HUGE chunk of their ill gotten gains along with what's left of their reputations.

More people like Gary Marcus, Karen Hao, and Ed Zitron need to persistently tell the truth about this unprecedented investment in an over-hyped scam. I hope the big 10 lose everything so some small, ethical startups who want to serve society, not destroy it stand a chance at improving the human condition.

Bob's avatar

AI and crypto are enormous users of electricity and water via the data centers

Oaktown's avatar

Yes. And our electricity bills are going up while they drastically deplete the water table in, for example, AZ, which already doesn't have enough water for its residents. That alone is a good enough reason to ban crypto and rein in unregulated AI.

Gary Marcus has a new post on Substack today. Highly recommended: https://open.substack.com/pub/garymarcus/p/the-grand-agi-delusion?r=2nt1ay&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Bob's avatar

Gil Duran also writes about AI and techno-fascism. A book he recommends, which I read and found informative, is “More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity.”

Oaktown's avatar

Yes. I subscribe to Duran's Nerd Reich newsletters and watch his YouTube channel. Haven't read the book yet, but listened to a long interview of him about it.

Susan Raquel's avatar

Taxes can get you thinking about fairness. For instance, when I’m calculating deductions on my salary and watching a decent chunk go to Uncle Sam, I can’t help but wonder: What if the ultra-wealthy paid the same percentage of their income in taxes that regular people do?

Find Out: I Asked ChatGPT To Explain How Rich People Avoid Taxes Like I’m 12 — Here’s What It Said

So I decided to ask ChatGPT a simple question: “What would happen if billionaires paid taxes at the same rate as the middle class?” The AI’s response was more nuanced than I expected — and revealed some surprising truths about how our tax system really works.

Earning passive income doesn't need to be difficult. You can start this week.

Setting the Record Straight

First, ChatGPT corrected a common misconception I had. Based on actual data from PolitiFact and ProPublica investigations, the 25 wealthiest Americans currently pay an average federal income tax rate of 16% under existing law.

Meanwhile, households earning $50,000-$100,000 (where most teachers, firefighters and other middle-class workers fall) typically pay an effective tax rate between 0% and 15%.

So contrary to what I’d heard, billionaires don’t actually pay less than teachers under current tax law. But here’s where it gets interesting.

How Wealth Grows vs. How Wages Work

ChatGPT explained that the issue isn’t necessarily the tax rates themselves, but how different types of income get taxed. This is where the system becomes genuinely unfair.

“Billionaires benefit from tax strategies that lower their effective tax burden compared to what ordinary income earners face on wages,” the AI explained. “The current system taxes work more than wealth.”

Here’s what that means in practice: When I get my salary, taxes come out immediately. When a billionaire’s stock portfolio increases in value by millions, they don’t pay taxes on that growth until (or unless) they sell those stocks.

The ‘Buy-Borrow-Die’ Strategy

ChatGPT broke down something called the “buy-borrow-die” strategy that wealthy people use to minimize taxes. It sounds like financial wizardry because, honestly, it kind of is.

Here’s how it works: Billionaires borrow money against their stock holdings (which isn’t taxed), live off those loans and then pass their assets to heirs largely tax-free when they die. Meanwhile, regular people like me can’t defer taxes on our paychecks or borrow against our retirement accounts without major penalties.

The AI used ProPublica data to illustrate this: “The top 25 billionaires saw their wealth grow by $401 billion from 2014-2018, but paid just $13.6 billion in federal income taxes — an effective rate of 3.4% on wealth growth.”

That 3.4% figure is what really stung. While they’re paying their legal tax obligations on realized income, their actual wealth is growing at a rate that’s taxed far below what middle-class workers pay on their salaries

What If We Changed the Rules?

ChatGPT ran the numbers on what would happen if billionaires paid taxes at the same rate middle-class families do — around 15%-22%.

Using the ProPublica data, if those top 25 billionaires had been taxed at a 20% rate on their wealth growth, they would have paid around $80 billion instead of $13.6 billion.

“Extrapolate that across approximately 1,000 billionaires?” the AI asked. “You’re talking hundreds of billions in added revenue annually.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/i-weasked-chatgpt-what-would-happen-if-billionaires-paid-taxes-at-the-same-rate-as-the-middle-class/ar-AA1I2aW5

Jackie Robare Fiese's avatar

Exactly! It’s been said before but needs to be brought up again more and more.

Brad Betts's avatar

That Christmas ornament 🤮 🤮 🤮 🤮 is gawd awful!

Bob's avatar

Just as godawful as I’d have imagined. Gawdy and devoid of anything suggestive of Christmas.

Elaine Lueras's avatar

Money can't buy taste or class

LHS's avatar

What does it even say on the bottom part? I can't even read it. Is that the idea?

Julie's avatar

It says “Who cares about fucking Christmas?” To quote Melania herself.

Alison's avatar

A laughable piece of cheap c$@p for $75. This family of grifters just can't stop. They are horrible. And how many stars are scattered onto the flag- 37?

Martha Kenne's avatar

Hideous. Even for my americana tree in the basement.

Suzie Doherty's avatar

There is money, like 20 billlion for Argentina, and money for congressional salaries, but none for the working folks. How shameful

Julie's avatar

My contention all along since 1/20/25 is that the regime wants us sick; broke, and dead. There is no other way to explain the demolition of the CDC, the eradication of education, the idiotic tariff wars that will only hurt US, and the total strafing and castration of Congress. The American public is adrift on a sea of ugly corruption and at the mercy of every incompetent dumbfuck that Donald Trump counts among his slavish and conspiracy addled circle of associates. We are sitting ducks as a nation as every bad actor across the world is alternately laughing and planning to attack. We should be scared. I’m scared. And I don’t know how we make it for another THREE YEARS when this amount of damage was inflicted on us in 8 months.

Jan Underhill's avatar

Project 2025 gave a detailed preview of where this is headed. Serfdom for most of us, with religious propaganda for education. And they do think they’re ordained by “God”.

Tully's avatar

I want nothing to do with their idea of "God."

Alison's avatar

His wife got tired of him. Not surprising.

RobWhitH's avatar

If Trump and the people around him are not foreign agents, they might as well be for all the damage they are doing to the United States.

Julie's avatar

They’re malignant. And have no scruples or principles. Just hate, racism, greed, and proud xenophobia.

JA's avatar

Poster BOY: Stephen Miller

Lesa G.'s avatar

For an insight into what the US dystopian future will look like, study the "Hand Maids Tale" Series 1. Women relegated to be housekeepers, servants & child-bearers; prohibited from reading or learning, (on pain of physical mutilation), a gestapo-like secret police that spies on everyone, and a small elite group of rich men running everything. This is Trump's dream - and Project 2025 will propel the United States into the Dark Ages.

Julie's avatar

I have done that. Margaret Atwood was prescient and didn’t even know any of this was possible. The mantra: It can’t happen here. We are now about halfway there to Gilead. We are a failed nation. We have allowed this to happen to us. And the electeds have betrayed us on every level. My heartache is that it will take a generation to repair this damage. If ever. Unless something precipitous happens.

Oaktown's avatar

I saw an interview of Atwood; she said everything she put in the Handmaid's Tale came from actual historic examples. She said she did that because she wanted it to be plausible enough that people would realize it could happen anywhere. She knew very well it was possible.

Oaktown's avatar

Have you read her sequel, "The Testaments"? It will give you hope.

Susan Cooper's avatar

Hegseth has similar aspirations... isn't he a Doug Wilson adherent? See The Independent's article (Hegseth Attended Service at Church of ‘Christian Nationalist’ Pastor Who Doesn’t Think Women Should Vote and Wants US To Be a Theocracy):

"Doug Wilson has faced criticism for right-wing views on feminism, slavery, and gay marriage... 'The Secretary is a proud member of a church affiliated with the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which was founded by Pastor Doug Wilson,' Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Independent. 'The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.'”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/hegseth-christian-nationalist-church-doug-wilson-b2803969.html

Contrast that with Hegseth's weird wife fixation... Per The Daily Beast (Pentagon Pete’s Angry Wife Stirred Up His War With Reporters):

"In April, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hegseth had added his wife, who is not an employee of the Defense Department, to Signal chats in which details of a strike on Yemen were discussed, and brought her to sensitive meetings with foreign officials. That same month, it was reported he had plastered the walls of the Pentagon with photos of his spouse and showcased her presence in internal videos." (See the article for pictures...)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pentagon-pete-s-angry-wife-stirred-up-his-war-with-reporters/ar-AA1Oeqtw?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=68e9b717c2264b929343037626e26597&ei=17

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Oct 13
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Elaine Lueras's avatar

Lard-haired dry drunk frat boi.

Terry24x's avatar

Genius! Pure genius!

“JD Vance lied repeatedly on Sunday shows with his trademark smug insufferability. Trump lies like a huckster televangelist - like he knows he’s trying to con you with obvious bs so he keeps checking to see if you are buying it and can’t believe his luck that so many are. Mike Johnson lies with a monotone smooth sliminess that reminds me of the character Kevin Spacey played in The Usual Suspects. But Vance tells preposterous lies with a tone of indignancy if you dare suggest that he might be full of shit.”

Helen Stajninger's avatar

This is so comprehensive. Thank you so much Ron Filipkowski.

Virgin Monk Boy's avatar

JD Vance lies like a man auditioning for victim of the year. Indignant tone. Empty cart.

Trump’s grift is televangelist chic. Pass the plate. Hide the facts. Praise be to tariffs that don’t exist.

Mike Johnson talks like a customer service bot that found a Bible and a thesaurus for slime.

Layoffs during a shutdown? That’s not policy. That’s a purge with a press release.

We’re not confused. We’re counting. Ballots, not vibes. Receipts, not rants.

Elaine Lueras's avatar

So tired of having to look at their smug smarmy lying faces.

Suzie Doherty's avatar

When will journalists start calling out the lies made by Vance and Johnson. Enough of the crap.

Julie's avatar

Never. They’ve flopped forward onto the knees of their knees at this point, and their corporate overlords have capitulated and actually PAID Trump to be insulted and demeaned. But we have RON. So we’re not wandering around in the dark.

Pamela Van Sickle's avatar

Thank you Ron for once again cutting through the shit show and laying out the facts. Your descriptions of Vance and Johnson were spot on. They, along with all the others of course, are beyond the lowest level of despicable. AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!

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Oct 13
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Elaine Lueras's avatar

Congress will never call out Tiny Johnson and Lady Maybelline the Couch Cuddling Ratface. The Republikkkans are gutless and soul-less. I pray that their constituents are so angry they vote them out.

Rita Parker's avatar

My God, what an absolute shit show, and yet the media still doesn't get it. Just lies upon lies upon lies. These people are despicable Nazis, and I hope the absolute worst happens to them.

Elaine Lueras's avatar

MSM gets it, they just won't do anything about it. With a few exceptions, they are no longer journalists because the truth doesn't mean anything to them anymore. The only truth you will find is with the independent journalists like on Substack.

Madam Geoffrin's avatar

Thx Ron. You have described JD Vance in the most accurate way. I’ve been using “creepy JD Vance.” Then, again, one doesn’t exclude the other, right??

Colleen McGloughlin's avatar

“smug insufferability” was my particular favorite.

Elaine Lueras's avatar

Yes yes Lady Maybelline is INSUFFERABLE. Such an insufferable cheesy ratface. Esp the way he keeps repeating the interviewers' names. It's a cheap powerplay to try to show dominance like a grabby handshake or trying to tower over someone. I would not call him "JD" I would refer to him to his face as "Mr Bowman" to point out that he even lies about his own name. James Donald Bowman. 🤮🤮

Colleen McGloughlin's avatar

No redeeming qualities that i can detect.

He’s the kind of man whose very presence provokes me to ask, “Do you still beat your wife?”

Barb O's avatar

My heart goes out to the laid off and fired workers. All unnecessary. As difficult as it will be, please join the No Kings protest this Saturday.

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Oct 13
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Betty Amstutz Gerson's avatar

That the richest person in the world took medical and other support from the poorest by demolishing USAID is the epitome of cruelty. These people may have a brain but they certainly don’t have a heart. I feel devastated.

Elaine Lueras's avatar

The richest people in the world killing the poorest people in the world.

Colleen McGloughlin's avatar

I remember when Malaria didn’t give a f*ck about Christmas.

Gym Jordan thought the guy at Ohio State was doing a good job, too.

Ron, you are amazing. Thank you.

Shaka Travel Guys's avatar

FDT and RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!

colo-ski's avatar

I really love the fact of that George Stephanopoulos (not that I liked him in the past( but he did the exact right thing there and that needs to be repeated about 10 times a day

Tully's avatar

I think more like George are finally going to start waking up and stop being afraid of telling the truth. Trump loses in court almost every time. He tried to sue to make it hard on others. More need to cover him up in lawsuits where he has to give depositions. Tie up all his time in court.

Oaktown's avatar

I think they're also noticing how popular independent news is in proportion to how many viewers corporate "news" is losing. Thank you, Meidas Mighty and MTN.

Susan Cooper's avatar

"… Kristi Noem released a video to be played in US airports..." These Hatch Act violations are starting to piss me off. In addition to being illegal and full of lies, they cost taxpayers money.

Tully's avatar

I wish the Dems would fight back to have their own videos in the airports telling the truth.

Susan Cooper's avatar

I like the way you think!

Becky Schneider's avatar

Great idea, but I doubt the Transportation Secretary would allow them to be aired.

colo-ski's avatar

I still think the biggest and final wedge is the Epstein files....... do not stop