For some of your corporate crimes listed above; The dollar amount the company earned through illegal activity is often hard to peg down. However having fines based on the company’s worth based on their latest share holder fillings (not their tax filings) would be a good way to assess these.

Going slightly off topic we also need to start holding corporate players accountable with jail time for their crimes. Guy steals $200 from the till, he goes to jail. Corporation shorts employees $2,000,000 in wages over the year? Small fine.

Especially on a corporate level, these fines should be called into question. Make a million doing something illegal, fined 500k. That’s 500k profits. It’s an incentive to engage I. Illegal activity, not a deterrent.

In America almost all fines are set by a specific fixed range. To keep things simple let’s look at $150.00 parking ticket. No matter the vehicle or circumstance, anyone illegally parking in this specific spot is fined the same equal $150. Do you feel this is fair?

In some countries, fines are based on the violators income. So based off someone’s income that $150 may be a back breaking charge because they live paycheck to paycheck. Alternatively someone obscenely wealthy may find $150 to mean nothing and finds no deterrent to the fine. So the same parking ticket would instead be $25 for an extremely poor person and $50,000 for a rich person so that they both experience similar economic impacts to the ticket. This is considered an equitable fine as opposed to the equal fine.

Would you support an equitable system of financial punishment over equal?

I don’t think there was any part of their romantic entanglements that would interfere with the case.

That being said with all the attention and all the scrutiny it was a tremendously poor decision for them. People were going to pick this prosecution apart for any reason they could. It was fuel they should never have lit.

We hope for the best despite expecting the worst. Especially now that our resident multi boxer is out, things got a lot more civil. I’m hoping it stays that way.

Can we just eliminate any existing one that’s based on opinion? Don’t get me wrong, I like watching gymnastic floor routines or ice skaters. I just don’t think quantifying things like, “this artistic dance was better than the other” means a damned thing.

So on that note; ‘National Leader Dick Measuring.’ Give it a healthy outlet and avoid bombing civilians.

As we get into the meat of a new election cycle we can expect a fresh interest in the Think Tank forum. In an age of rampant information I would like to implore you to follow a few guidelines when posting.

1. Source your information: This is the most important information you can give to support your arguments or opinions. If you are inspired to post or respond with facts, figures, quotes, ect… Provide your receipts. I also encourage you to follow the source back to it’s origin.

2. Don’t post blind articles as responses to other people: If you are posting something related to the topic, summarize it’s importance. Still post link.

3. Avoid team politics and making assumptions about other’s beliefs. If someone agrees with a Republican on one issue, it does not make them a Republican. Most issues are far too complicated to have only two points of view, but in American politics especially we push the ‘with us or with them’ ideology.

4. Argue the issue, not the person. Avoid personal attacks to your fellow posters. Sensationalism and name calling may be more common than not from our politicians, but we can do better and be civil.

5. Don’t occupy an echo chamber: Explore other’s beliefs, read their articles, follow their sources. If you don’t consider your counterpoints you’ve never truly considered your belief. Dismissive statements like ‘I don’t read Democrat Propaganda’ or ‘You can’t trust any article by a Republican’ isn’t a debate, it’s the lack of one.

6. It’s OK to be wrong and to change your opinion. You should do this often as you get new information. Feeling right is less important than being correct.

Just some things I hope we all keep in mind. I expect better from y’all then out politicians because I have have very low expectations of politicians. Now grab your ankles and get ready for a rough year.

We have a new podcast up at BlackThorn Theater. For those who enjoyed The Wizard's Dark Whims, it's now performed by my partner and up for free! Please enjoy!

https://www.subversionarystudios.com/podcast/episode/7da108d6/the-wizards-dark-whims

Here's a link to the story on Lush: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/fantasy-sci-fi/the-wizards-dark-whims

Quote by WellMadeMale

I don't bother to read the drivel spewed from Republicans, GQP or Libertarians. Didn't your parents teach you not to wallow in sewage ditches, in your youth? At this rate, next you'll be quoting Jesse Watters.

Well that really lowers your ability to assess anything, doesn’t it? If you’ll only enter echo chambers than functionally you’re politics and ways of thinking are as stagnant and rigid as any member of the far right.

I linked an article that puts out the timeline of IS involvement in Ukraine and how America bears much of the responsibility for the political situation of the area. You could either argue those points or present a counter narrative. Doing neither is simply sticking your fingers in your ears.

I read articles and publications that don’t align with my beliefs. It allows me to counter those arguments by finding the fault in the thinking, fact check claims, and possibly change my view if the evidence suggests I was wrong in my beliefs.

The world isn’t black and white. Your political enemies might make valid points and concerns even if you don’t agree with what they do with that information. Admitting America’s role in Ukraine over the past few decades might align with Putin’s account, but it’s not an endorsement of his war.

Swifties are more zealots than most Catholics at this point. I wouldn’t go picking a fight if I were the Republicans.

Although I wouldn’t have picked a fight with Disney’s lawyers either.

On an on period, about 3.2 sexes a week. Average about 0.8 sex a week. Low streaks include 0.06 sex a week.

Is it weird to remember data about sexual encounters?

The person below me? No thank you. Below them? Yes please!

Let’s not judge to quickly. When is Boebert dropping her album?

Quote by WellMadeMale

You're pushing the Libertarian points of view and they're not that much different from GQP points of view, which are aligned with Putin's point of view. The CATO Institute is a good place to find articles blaming Democrats for all that's wrong in the world.

Thanks for that!

Are you arguing the history laid out in the article or simply the source?

Don’t think there’s much to hide. I mean I don’t introduce my weirder kinks during a dinner party but I’ll talk about any kink or desire I have to the right audience.

Not an immediate thing but a particularly terrible boss was someone I wished would die. I quit that job and a few years later a coworker called me to tell me he had died from stomach cancer. Good, he deserved it.

Ever had a boss so bad you would wish death on them?

As a sub note for this discussion, I think one of the most telling votes in the history of the UN was when they voted on if access to food was a basic human right. There were only two votes that were a no. The US and Israel both voted that access to food isn’t a human right, and I’ll never understand the mind state you would need to come up with that sick and twisted logic.

And good point by Princess, the only real affect of the trial will be greater global support which will be the only inroad to change.

Just a clarification on that Cuba statement: The resolution against the US has passed almost unanimously for the past 30 years in the UN. The most recent vote had 97% of all nations vote it was illegal. The only two votes against was by the USA itself and it's a puppet government of Israel. Ukraine abstained since they were currently getting the bulk of their military funding from the US. In past years Ukraine joined the other countries in voting it was illegal.

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/11/03/us-blockade-cuba-vote-un/

Trying to find the article I read a few weeks ago with that 40% stat above. It was laid out in an article about South Africa calling out Israel for genocide. I'll post it here if I can find it.

edit

Here's that article. The section talking about compliance with provisional rulings near the end:

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/12/1224363666/israel-hamas-war-palestinians-south-africa-genocide-case-court

I would say calling it a pendulum isn’t correct. It’s a ratchet. The Republicans ratchet the country two turns to the right. The Democrats pull it one to the left and have no interest in going further than that. Biden as a Democrat is politically identical to Reagan in many ways. Same nationalistic views, economic goals, ect.

However most polling shows that on individual issues the nation leans much more progressive than it used to. However the political landscape controls which candidates you are allowed to vote for. Without money and backing by the richest people in the world any candidate is doomed. Same people who pick candidates are the ones who control the news and media.

Kentucky was a great example on the last election. Democrats had two candidates in the primary to go against McConnell. One was a progressive who ran a grass roots campaign. The other was an extremely right leaning moderate who had previously lost an election quite badly to McConnell. In polling the progressive had a legitimate chance to beat the Republican, the moderate lost terribly. The Democrat party and donors poured tens of millions into the campaign in the primary. The ad budget on the Democrats chosen vs the moderate was something like 20:1. The progressive lost a close primary. I’m the general election the democrats spent less money than the primary and got the predictable loss everyone knew was coming.

The rich who control media and political donations fear progressives more than Trump. The people, especially the younger generations do not.

Ratched. I recommend the first 5 episodes and then stop watching it. It goes downhill and loses all direction fast.

What television show had the most disappointing ending for you?

Black and purple (2 separate dye jobs, not at the same time).

Tell us about one of your tattoos. If you don’t have one tell us about one you’ve seen that you liked.

Quote by noll

Perhaps you're just voicing what you think voters believe, but it kinda sounds like you're falling for the Russian propaganda here.

The history of Ukraine didn’t start with the Russian invasion. Admitting fault in one countries colonialism isn’t condoning another.

https://www.cato.org/commentary/us-nato-helped-trigger-ukraine-war-its-not-siding-putin-admit-it

Quote by noll

I wonder if it'll have any effect, but hopefully some of the countries that have supported Israel are paying attention.

When the UN passes resolutions against countries, there’s only something like a 40% rate of compliance. It’s an organization with very tiny teeth. Only the little guys have to be worried. The US balks UN rulings everyday. Good example was our illegal blockade of Cuba. Something like 36 years in a row it was ruled illegal by the UN.

If the UN had the balls to even pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire, Israel had already said they would ignore it.

And they would.

And th US will continue to supply weapons of death to help them continue their genocide.

To be fair, the economy is failing terribly. It depends on the metrics you use. Biden will tout things like stock prices and GDP, these metrics only affect the rich. When they rise the rich get richer.

Alternatively if you look at simple metrics such as family income, inflation, home ownership, ect… we’ll the economy is an abject failure. It’s been going downhill for decades so you can’t lump that onto any one administration.

If the Democrats truly cared about winning elections they would focus on the priorities of the poor and middle class. Unfortunately they have the same economic policies as the Republicans.

Biden’s environmental scorecard is also worse than Trumps was, pushing through many controversial pipelines after publicly ending one. Allowing Manchin to have an oversized influence on all bills was foolish. Having a coal tycoon writing environmental policies is like asking the weasel to guard the henhouse.

When a politician is going for reelection the constituents will ask, “what have they done for me.” As always, the Democrats came in with promises and delivered nothing.

Also the Ukraine situation is unpopular for a reason. When you have billions being invested in a foreign war that you kinda started people will get angry. Teachers have to use their low wages to buy students supplies, congress sends a gaggle of tanks to the Ukraine.

And Israel, my god I don’t know where to start on why that’s unpopular. We are actively supporting a genocide. Israel has murdered 25,000 people in a few months. Most are civilians. The bodies of children are over the news every day. Recent videos show stuff like the Israeli army gunning down an old woman holding a white flag. This is nothing more than American colonialism with a middle man. More republicans support that war than the left and Biden’s Cold War era policies are tremendously unpopular with his base and will not win people over from Trump. It’s stupidity as a re-election strategy and morally reprehensible as a government policy.

Just work with one. Honestly if we could combine her OCD and my ADHD we would be either the greatest accountants ever or completely cancel each other’s strengths out.

*Speaking of ADHD I forgot to ask my question…

What’s your typical order for sushi?

Been a while since I worked out proper but near the end of the workouts I was normally in a pretty aroused state. Something about intense workouts releases some body chemistry that makes me randy as hell. Normally this was after long runs or high rep lifting.

Nah, if I’m doing so I tuck the obvious state of my arousal into the band if my underwear till it calms down.

If you could turn invisible and be completely silent, would you watch anyone have sex without them knowing?

Lived with a few for years. The most annoying part was the random people stopping me in parking lots and offering to fix it. Money was too tight for small cosmetic car spending.

What is something you value for it's function, but not it's aesthetic appeal?

You were not presented with something like, 'but I'm not interested in that right now.' I would say this wasn't a hard shutdown, but maybe giving them something to think about. They could be interested but worried about the co-worker situation. I rejected advances once from a co-worker. I was an assistant manager and she was an hourly employee. I liked her, but not enough to risk possible job ramifications.

Could not be in a good space to start something, but they appreciate the attention. Might mean lots of stuff actually. I think it would be fair to ask for a clarification.

That is a very specific fantasy and I like where your head is at. Why not, it would feel like I've got a very supportive crowd cheering me on.

Would you have sex on top of the float for an adult audience if your identity was concealed by a mask?