monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

I think that you might want to do a wee bit of research on that one, hightor.

Prohibition lasted from 1919 to 1933. One of the stumbling blocks advocates of Prohibition faced before 1913 was that the federal government was heavily dependent on taxes on alcohol. The passage of the income tax constitutional amendment that year allowed government the luxury of banning alcohol without reducing tax revenue.

well, "un-American".

GW Bush is spilled milk; it's the past.

Quote:

Both the Republican and Democratic Parties are bought. The Democrats pretend to care ... that's the only difference. When the Democrats were in power and could have passed universal healthcare for all of us ... they sold us out to health insurance companies, (among other nefarious things the Dems have done). We must resist the corruption and reform our government.

I think this is too undiscerning of differences - differences which are acutely apparent with a Trump/Pence administration in place and with control of both houses in GOP hands. The policies we are seeing advanced now (gutting the EPA, attacks on social welfare programs, attempts to destroy the ACA, further attacks on voting rights, etc) would not have been forwarded under a Dem administration.

That said, the role of money in elections and the broad use of gerrymandering really need to be curtailed because we know the consequences of both to a functioning democracy.

Mr. Trump may have been referring to the fact that Germany, like most NATO countries, falls short of the alliance’s guideline that each member should allocate 2 percent of its gross domestic product to military spending, but that money is not intended to be paid to NATO or to the United States. [NATO's] direct funding is calculated through a formula and paid by each of the 28 nations that are members.

American presidents have long pressed for their NATO partners to commit more financing and other resources, but Mr. Trump and Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, have gone a step further, suggesting that the United States might reduce its contribution if other countries do not increase theirs.

At the White House on Friday, Ms. Merkel said that Germany would meet its previously stated goal of increasing its military spending to 2 percent of its G.D.P. by 2024.

Mr. Trump said on Friday that he had thanked Ms. Merkel for that commitment, but hinted that he was impatient over whether Germany and other countries would “pay what they owe."

layman wrote:

I don't see Debbie complaining about the atrocities of ISIS, ya know?

Se the post above this last one of yours.

This is addressed to layman: How many f'ing middle-eastern moms, dads, and kids do you want to bomb, maim, murder, and otherwise cause to suffer grave harm/hardship before your thirst for blood is satiated?

Hey, layman, how come you haven't discussed about the USA stealing a nation, gassing the islanders' dogs?

American TV is full of feel good programs about all manner of animal being saved from vicious people who would do harm to dogs, etc.

camlok: Hey, layman, how come you haven't discussed about the USA stealing a nation, gassing the islanders' dogs?

Why should I? I don't give a rat's ass.

America First, Baby!

Seems like most every time I bust into someone's crib when they aint there, there's some mutt in there trying to give me trouble, ya know?

Hold the phone here! Are you saying that you also don't care that your governments murder firemen and other US citizens just to get support for their illegal invasions?

With you, it always comes back to your wack-ass 9/11 conspiracy theories, don't it?

It's ISIS who is beheading middle-eastern moms, dads, and kids (babies, even), not us.