US US Politics General 2 - Discussion of President Trump and other politicians

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Should be a wild four years.

Helpful links for those who need them:

Current members of the House of Representatives
https://www.house.gov/representatives

Current members of the Senate
https://www.senate.gov/senators/

Current members of the US Supreme Court
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

Members of the Trump Administration
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/
 
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TarragonRespecter said:
I think at this point something could be happening more so than it being an illusion
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There could be a fatal plane crash every day and it would still be safer than driving. I'd have to see the numbers but I would wager that nothing ever happens and that air travel isn't any more dangerous on average right now.
 
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moocow said:
I genuinely don't understand how Staples, OfficeMax and Office Depot have held on as long as they have. Their prices are ridiculous for a lot of things (even compared to non-Amazon retailers like Sam's, Costco, Walmart, Target, etc.). Then again, about a year ago I did see a big Office Depot close down and a fuckin' Dollar Tree moved into the vacated retail space. That must have been a bruise to the company's ego. :story:
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They're the "I need it now" stores, much like Grainger is online (I need it tomorrow, technically) so people put up with the price to get the thing they need today.
 
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moocow said:
I genuinely don't understand how Staples, OfficeMax and Office Depot have held on as long as they have. Their prices are ridiculous for a lot of things (even compared to non-Amazon retailers like Sam's, Costco, Walmart, Target, etc.). Then again, about a year ago I did see a big Office Depot close down and a fuckin' Dollar Tree moved into the vacated retail space. That must have been a bruise to the company's ego. :story:
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afaik part of it is dumbass boomber execs are more likely to sign off on expenses that have OfficeCorp as the name
 
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indomitable snowman said:
Post from Elon:
These are the age brackets for people alive and eligible for social security
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1891350795452654076/ | https://archive.ph/wmi8P

View attachment 6993122
View attachment 6993120
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Someone being listed in the social security database does not mean they get a paycheck. This just means they have an active SSN. You're a real retard if you think they're actually sending checks to millions of 150+ year olds. Elon is just hyping up his DOGE shit to seem more effective at uncovering 'waste' than it is, as usual. This is the same as him saying USAID sent condoms to Gaza (next to Isreal).

For more context, this DATA COLLECTION PROBLEM is not new and has been known since at least 2015.
Here's an article from 2015: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/death-stop-social-security-payments
Social Security records show that 6.5 million people in the U.S. have reached the ripe old age of 112.
In reality, only few could possibly be alive. As of last fall, there were only 42 people known to be that old in the entire world.
But Social Security does not have death records for millions of these people, with the oldest born in 1869, according to a report by the agency’s inspector general.
Only 13 of the people are still getting Social Security benefits, the report said. But for others, their Social Security numbers are still active, so a number could be used to report wages, open bank accounts, obtain credit cards or claim fraudulent tax refunds.
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Emphasis mine.

The OIG (Office of Inspector General) has produced reports highlighting this exact issue, for example in 2015: https://oig-files.ssa.gov/audits/full/A-02-16-50118_0.pdf
In addition, recent audit work determined that over 6 million numberholders age
112 or older had no death information on their Numident records. The accuracy and
completeness of death information is critical because Federal benefit paying entities, the
Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, State and local governments,
and private industry customers rely on the Death Master File to detect unreported deaths and
prevent fraud.
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And here's an audit report from the OIG produced in 2023 which reports on this exact issue: https://oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads/a-06-21-51022.pdf
Results
SSA has not established controls to annotate death information on
the Numident records of numberholders who exceeded maximum
reasonable life expectancies. SSA added death information to the
Numident records of approximately 1.5 of the 6.5 million
numberholders age 112 or older discussed in our 2015 report.
However, at the time of our review, although the Census Bureau
estimated approximately 86,000 individuals residing in the United
States were age 100 or older, SSA’s Numident included
approximately 18.9 million numberholders who were born in 1920
or earlier but had no death information on their Numident record.
Death information missing from the Numident and the DMF
hampers both SSA and Government-wide efforts to prevent and
detect fraud and misuse.
In Tax Years 2016 through 2020, employers and individuals
reported approximately $8.5 billion in wages, tips, and self-
employment income using 139,211 SSNs assigned to individuals
age 100 or older. SSA transferred these earnings to the Earnings
Suspense File, primarily because personally identifiable
information provided on the workers’ earnings reports did not
match information in SSA enumeration records. Resolving these
discrepancies will help improve the accuracy and completeness of
the DMF and prevent future misuse of these SSNs.
The Department of the Treasury operates the Do Not Pay portal as
part of a Government-wide initiative to prevent and detect improper
payments. SSA will begin sharing its full DMF with the Do Not Pay
initiative in December 2023. Taking action to include death
information for the millions of numberholders omitted from the DMF
would enhance Government-wide improper payment prevention
and detection.
Recommendations
We recommended SSA (1) use death information already in its
records to input death information on 2.5 million numberholders’
Numident records, (2) use death information in Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services and various state death data files to
input death information on approximately 498,000 Numident
records, and (3) develop a methodology to add death information
to the Numident records of the approximately 15.8 million
remaining non-current payment status beneficiary numberholders
identified by our audit. SSA disagreed with our recommendations.
 
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gagabobo1997 said:
There could be a fatal plane crash every day and it would still be safer than driving. I'd have to see the numbers but I would wager that nothing ever happens and that air travel isn't any more dangerous on average right now.
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Yea, earlier someone quoted the average number of plane crashes annually is around 1000. Any increase or decrease of 5% or less is statistically insignificant.

It'd be funny if after the firings there was a >5% decrease. I'll get back to you in a year.
 
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Trump should declare English the official language of the USA. There have been pushes to make that the law my entire life but never got anywhere because muh racist Nazis.

Did you know Mexico has an official language by law (Spanish)? I didn't. Canadian law also commits to an official language.
 
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moocow said:
I genuinely don't understand how Staples, OfficeMax and Office Depot have held on as long as they have. Their prices are ridiculous for a lot of things (even compared to non-Amazon retailers like Sam's, Costco, Walmart, Target, etc.). Then again, about a year ago I did see a big Office Depot close down and a fuckin' Dollar Tree moved into the vacated retail space. That must have been a bruise to the company's ego. :story:
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I haven't been to one of these stores in years, and the last time I looked, everything seemed way over priced for what it was. Makes you wonder don't it?
 
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Levitcus prime24 said:
Do they never wonder why the people of Germany elected Hitler?
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They tend to just think the Germans were brainwashed. I had a shitlib friend watch one of those AI translated Hitler speech videos before youtube started taking those down and her takeaway was that the NSDAP was 100% wrong and stupid but Hitler maxed out his charisma stat so it didn't matter.
 
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