Politics Random, Random

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Tell me you have never seen the movie "Gangs of New York" without saying you've never seen the movie.

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Reagan did the same thing except he went to Mississippi I think.

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He needs to go to his safe spaces.
The poor darling.

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Earlier this week (or was it last week) TFG said the Presidential Medal of Honor that he gave out to people who gave him large monetary donations or political lackeys was more prestigious than the Medal of Honor. Veterans have been calling him out ever since.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that it's the only decoration specially emblazoned on headstones in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that when an Active Duty recipient wears it in uniform, it is customary, though not technically required, for all officers, no matter their seniority, to initiate a salute.

If a buck sergeant is in uniform and wearing their Medal of Honor, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will more than likely salute first.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that the children of recipients are guaranteed a nomination to any of the Service Academies. They still must compete for final admission, but the incredibly difficult nomination process is entirely waived for their application.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that recipients and their dependents are entitled to special military ID cards for particular privileges at commissaries and priority on military air travel.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that every state offers some degree of special license plate for drivers who are recipients.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that recipients receive an automatic special pension from the VA that's tacked on to any other pensions, retired or medical, they may have. Adjusted for cost-of-living regularly, it's currently $1671.16 per month.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that all living recipients are entitled to an invitation to every presidential inauguration and inaugural ball.

The Medal of Honor is so revered that a fragile, cowardly, insecure, and deeply narcissistic piece of (expletive) like Donald Trump can't stand knowing he'll never receive a similar universal respect.

[ponchi101]

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Weird



They're mocking women who need to use IVF in order to conceive.

[ponchi101]

At a time when (it seems to me) fewer women want to have children, they want to make it harder to those that want.
Weird does not even come close.

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Peter Thiel, eccentric billionaire patron of JD Vance, says he is thinking about leaving the US
Story by Graig Graziosi
•

Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire who served as the sugar daddy for GOP vice presidential hopeful JD Vance’s Senate run, who helped kill Gawker, and who names his companies after bits of JRR Tolkein lore, said he's considered leaving the US.

Thiel appeared on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience and told the comic-turned-podcaster that he had recently moved from San Francisco to LA, and was also considering leaving California or the country altogether.

When Rogan asked Thiel where he might move, the billionaire said it was "tough" to find alternatives because while the US had a "lot of problems" in his estimates, other parts of the world were doing "much worse."

He said whatever move he makes, he's only going to move once, and was unsure of whether he'd move to Florida or just out of the country, naming New Zealand and Costa Rica off the top of his head.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Thiel was instrumental to Vance’s rise. As well as backing Vance’s campaign for the US Senate in 2021-22, he was reportedly the one who introduced Vance to Donald Trump, giving him the opportunity to smooth over past barbs such as calling the real estate mogul “cultural heroin” and “noxious”.

Thankfully for Thiel, while most people can't just pick up and leave a country or state they have issues with, he absolutely can. He even once dreamed of living beyond the reach of national laws by creating a floating libertarian paradise — maybe he'd have called it Numenor? — where he could mold society to his liking.

That dream, at least temporarily, fell apart when he and his Seasteading Institute realized it would be too expensive to maintain a floating city in international waters, Business Insider reports. He instead opted to try to convince a country to host the project. New Zealand bought into the project for a short time but ultimately pulled out in 2018.

So, left without a floating city of his own creation, Thiel must now choose any other point on the planet to call home.

Wherever he goes, it seems like he'll at very least be moving out of California. Rogan and other conservatives and libertarians seeking to dodge the state's high taxes and typically more liberal culture have left the state for more friendly ideological climates in Texas and Florida.

Thiel noted that the stereotypical right-wing critique of California — that it is a poorly governed state with oppressive levels of intrusion and regulation by lawmakers — is generally off-base. He said conservatives are always baffled that the state hasn't collapsed into anarchy, but is continuously thriving.

"You know, the macroeconomics of it are pretty good. You know, 40 million people. The GDP is around 4 trillion. It’s about the same as Germany with 80 million or Japan with 125 million. Japan has three times the population of California. Same GDP means one-third the per capita GDP," Theil said. "So there’s some level on which, you know, California as a whole is working, even though it doesn’t work from a governance point of view, doesn’t work for a lot of the people who live there."

Rather than coming to the conclusion that perhaps the state’s political priorities, mixed with its natural resources and population size, are major contributors to its continued success, he instead attributed its strength to the "religion" of "wokeism," comparing it to ultra-right wing and conservative Wahhabbism in Islam.

“And, the rough model I have for how to think of California is that it’s kind of like Saudi Arabia and you have a crazy religion. Wokeism in California, Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia,” Thiel said.

Wahhabism is a puritanical form of Islam practiced primarily — but not only — in Saudi Arabia. The 9/11 terrorists from Saudi Arabia are believed to have been Wahhabists.

If that line of logic made any sense, one might assume that US states embracing conservative Christianity would be able to compete with California, but unfortunately, the billionaire’s explanation collapses almost immediately.

"And people have been saying Saudi Arabia is ridiculous, it’s going to collapse in a year. Now they’ve been saying that for 40 or 50 years," he said. "But, you know, if you have a giant oil field, you can pay for a lot of ridiculousness. I think that’s that’s the way to, that’s that’s the way you have to think of California."

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/pe ... r-AA1oYiQU

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JD Vance Backer And Trump Donor Peter Thiel Has Several Passports Just Like Kevin O'Leary And Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Adrian Volenik
Tue, Jul 23, 2024

Why Are The Wealthy Collecting Passports?

Having more than one passport is becoming popular among rich who want a backup plan in case things go haywire in their home countries. It’s like having a safety net for travel, business, or even moving to a different country if needed. These ‘passport portfolios' can include citizenships from two, three, or even more countries.

Peter Thiel’s New Zealand Citizenship

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, obtained New Zealand citizenship in 2011. The interesting part? According to reports, he spent only 12 days in the country over five years. Normally, you’d need to spend at least 1,350 days there, but Thiel was granted citizenship because of his “exceptional circumstances.” These included his big investments in New Zealand companies and his philanthropic efforts, like donating $1 million to the Christchurch earthquake relief fund.

According to CNBC, New Zealand law also required Thiel to either plan to live in New Zealand or work for a New Zealand company if he was going to be a citizen. However, Thiel said that if he got citizenship, he would continue living in the U.S. to manage his American businesses.

Thiel's Not Alone: Kevin O’Leary And Eric Schmidt

Peter Thiel isn’t the only wealthy person with multiple citizenships. Kevin O’Leary, known from the TV show “Shark Tank,” and Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, are also part of this trend.

Eric Schmidt acquired citizenship in Cyprus, which offers various benefits for business and travel within the European Union. Kevin O’Leary, who has citizenship in Canada, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is diversifying his personal and business opportunities by holding multiple citizenship.

Why New Zealand?

New Zealand has become a popular choice for the superrich looking for a safe and stable place. Because of its social, economic, and ecological reasons, it is often seen as a refuge in times of global instability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, its appeal increased even more because of its remote location and effective virus handling.

The Benefits Of Multiple Passports

For the wealthy, having multiple passports brings countless advantages. One of the main benefits is travel flexibility. With several passports, they can easily move across different countries without worrying about visa restrictions or long application processes, providing a safety net.

If things become unstable in their home country, they have a backup plan: move to another country where they have citizenship, ensuring they and their families are safe and secure.

Another big benefit is access to new markets and investment opportunities. Having different passports makes it much easier to invest and open businesses in certain countries and territories, such as Dubai and China. There are far fewer restrictions as well.

For billionaires, it’s also about having more lifestyle choices. Having the option to live in different countries adds a lot of freedom and flexibility to their lives.

However, these citizenship programs are often controversial. Critics argue that they allow the wealthy to bypass the usual immigration processes and gain advantages not available to ordinary citizens. In some cases, these programs are seen as ways for the rich to avoid taxes or other legal responsibilities in their home countries.

Additionally, there are concerns about the fairness and transparency of these citizenship programs, especially when wealthy individuals obtain citizenship without meeting all the requirements.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jd-vance ... 15709.html

[ponchi101]

The benefit of having multiple passports is that in many countries, if you have a passport but spend very little time there, you don't pay a lot of taxes.
So, if you rotate between your passport countries, your tax bill can be very low.
There is no other reason why a Billionaire has multiple passports. It is not because of their allegiance to any flag.

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[Owendonovan]

Tell me you have never seen the movie "Gangs of New York" without saying you've never seen the movie.

Starting to run out of piles for him to keep stepping in.

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