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How did this one escape the politics board?

I agree Marty.... it wonld not be surprising to see a CNN article blasting Trump But you wrote that your personal safety is most important you.

Do you honestly feel safer? maybe i dont live in that region, we have our own terrorists to deal with...sports fans... But I will ask an honest question. Is it whats being done to appease you that you like, or is it the fact that its republican?

IF Biden say, a year before election did an about face, addressed the border crisis, did much the same Trump is doing, would you Vote for Biden?


its not a personal question more rhetorical. Most people who dont lean, but complete cave to one side could care a less what the opposite party in office do, they are not republicans and thats it.

that is what i hate about politics. Swing voters win or lose elections, but should they speak for the whole country?

oh for some reason i thought this was a rant. Didnt realize it was a song before it all.

I think the important thing is to write a good song regardless who agrees, we may not even agree on a love song depending on the POV

. I avoid political songs like the plague, alot of my heros have indulged, i just dont think anybiody cares what i think, and in this day an age serves to divide us more.

that said, the lyric is pretty good.

=Trump's Congressional Address 3/4/25=

I'm still not a mindless MAGA robot...

BUT,

What I saw tonight on the left side of the isle was just fuk'n embarrassing.
THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD SAW THAT!

I don't care who you think you are... If that's what you support, then all communist fuktarded democrats can eat $hit and die!

Hi Fdem,
thank you for the feedback on my song lyrics.

I found your rhetorical question very interesting. That really made me think for a minute. That was a good one. I like a lot of things that Trump stands for but I can't vote for someone who constantly lies. Especially now, when I see him joining forces with the communists ... that is an absolute no go for me. I grew up during the cold war. The Russians were our no. 1 enemies back then. Now Trump ordered to cease offensive cyber operations and information operations against Russia. Trump disbanded efforts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs. Trump ordered a halt to a federal law enforcement initiative to combat secret influence campaigns based on Russia and China. Trump says he would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want to any NATO country that doesn't pay enough. Trump says Putin should be allowed to return to the G8 talks. And Nord Stream should transfer Russian gas to Germany. This is not just reckless, this is dangerous. The Russians raped thousands of Ukraine women, snatched over 20.000 Ukraine children and deported them to Russia and shot hundreds of Ukrainians in the head. They drop bombs on schools, hospitals, malls, etc. According to Trump, they shouldn't pay for what they did. Now, all of a sudden, they should be viewed as our best buddies. This is crazy. Japov thinks the left side was an embarrassment, I thought the right side was, especially the two clowns behind our President. The polls say 80% of Americans don't like Putin. That is why I thought the right side was an embarrassment. Trump made it clear that he is in command and doing whatever he wants. Musk is now going after SS. The next payments won't on time because they fired too many people and who knows if those payments won't be cut or completely deleted by Elon. I'm so lucky I don't get SS.

Rob,

How, exactly, do you think that the Russians should be made to pay for their invasion?

And while you are thinking about a plan that you would implement, here are some CBS polls regarding last night's speech to consider.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-speech-joint-address-congress-poll-2025/

Hey Marty,
interesting stuff. I watched the whole thing and I have to admit he did touch a bunch of topics that I too feel are very important. I went through those poll numbers and I was astonished to see that 62% of the viewers said his speech was unifying. Man, what were these people smoking or were they watching something else? The way Trump talked about democrats and then he threw someone out. I saw a very divisive speech, full of hatred. 68% say he has a clear plan on inflation. Ok, he said things would be getting more expensive and he didn’t say he would do anything about inflation, except drill baby drill. He’s not vaccinating the birds, instead he put a 25% on Canadian eggs. If you call that a clear plan, well, then I’m speechless. 65% of Americans want tariffs? I can’t believe that Americans want higher taxes because that’s what tariffs are. Trump is raising taxes on foreign goods!!! Unbelievable numbers but maybe the people polled don’t have the mental capacity to understand this stuff.
Trump has a great marketing team and he is an awesome show maker. Well, I guess that’s the only thing he’s good at. He spread one lie after another but packaged them to perfection so that apparently not many people noticed he was spreading lies. He repeated those social security numbers again and at one point he said he doesn’t know if any of them are getting money or not. 30 seconds later he said they were, which was a lie because nobody over the age of 115 gets SS payments. One thing he didn’t lie about was Ukraine. Zelensky wants to end the war and he is willing to do a mineral deal with America. That’s what Trump said and that’s what I’m hearing from my European news sources. Nothing more and nothing less. If the deal has some kind of border security in it (the Europeans could secure the border) Zelensky would sign it. The problem is, Putin won’t agree to any kind of border security. Now that America is not supporting Ukraine anymore Putin can take all of Ukraine. Why should he be interested in a deal? Trump sounded like he has the solution and that Zelensky will now do the deal, but since last Friday we know he won’t. So, Trump talked a lot but didn’t say much. But Marty, I have to admit those numbers really did surprise me.

Rob,
Green heckled an American president at an address to congress. He wanted to be thrown out and the dims have worn out that approach to the issues.
He and Maxine Waters lead by example agitating crap like that and his counterparts on the right do a Jan6. Both parties only see one side of the scoreboard.

In my lifetime Americans have been repeatedly been told that it falls on our soldiers to travel thousands of miles to fight in some country that most people had never even heard and could not possibly find on a map. e.g. Vietnam, Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Somalia... in order to "save Democracy" "defeat communism" and whatever else is counter to the forces of good and govt directives. I'm educated and I had never heard of any of them until some flashpoint or war broke out causing me to see where they were on the globe.

That's been warn out to. That fact is one of the main reasons that Trump is now president. Many of us trust neither Putin or Zelensky and don't want our money literally throwing fire on their border dispute. And certainly we don't want to be keeping-the-lines-open that could send our troops to die there. Zelensky now knows that we are here and he must factor that into his demands of us.

A reality that you are going to have to face is that a lot of Americans feel that way. And you can this-and-that about what Trump said about this-and-that, but our focus is what he is doing to keep us out of foreign wars and keep our borders enforced. He is verifiably delivering.

And Rob, I asked what you would have the US exactly do regarding Ukraine and what the mission would exactly be. I don't see an answer. I don't see an answer anywhere from anyone other than to punish Putin and keep it going....

Marty,
I don't have a solution. That's not my job. We have politicians. It's their job. I personally think it would have been good to have brought everybody involved to a table and talk. As far as I know, so far only Trump and Putin have talked. A possible solution could have been, give Russia what they've already taken and have them pay for it with the frozen assets and let European troops secure the new border between Ukraine and Russia. All America would have had to do is secure the border by selling the necessary weapons to Ukraine and Europe, no American troops. Something like that might have worked. But unfortunately not anymore. Trump said America will stop supporting Ukraine. That was the best thing that could have happened to Russia. Now it's just a question of time when Russia will get all of Ukraine. Even if Zelensky signs the deal, there is no border security defined. Russia will take what they think is theirs. Only the Western countries WITH America could have stopped Russia. Putin now knows America has given up on Ukraine. Marty, it's over. Trump wants to treat Russia as if nothing ever happened. Putin can now go after the next countries on his list, knowing America doesn't care. That's what my song was about. Trump blew it. For some reason many Americans don't understand what just happened. We don't have to discuss this anymore. It ended on Friday.

After what happened here, it will be interesting to see what happens when China takes over Taiwan. China will be backed by Russia, Iran and North Korea. Will America still have allies or will they have to fight it out on their own? According to the "Taiwan Relations Act" America will have to defend Taiwan. Many experts say Taiwan will lead to the next World War.

Now, we wait and see.
As for China, they've always made it clear that they want Taiwan back.
They have used cheap labor and western markets to build a formidable armed service.
Europe and the US have eagerly made that easy to do.
If they invade Taiwan and the West goes full-on to get them out, I think a bloodbath would result, with an uncertain outcome.
The US would have to ship a fighting force to the other side of the world. China would be a few miles offshore.

The history of civilization and mankind is the history of war, which makes all of the above, including your concerns with eastern Europe uncertain and scary.
I hope that they all love their children too.

Marty

Marty, who is the "West"? In my opinion The West is not what it used to be. Things are changing quickly. Trump is rapidly destabilizing the West. America is starting trade wars with almost all of their previous allies. The US dollar has lost over 5% during these past couple of days. It could happen that America would have to do everything on their own in the future. That's basically what making America great again is all about or am I missing something? Trump is handing over Ukraine to Russia. He just told the CIA not to support Ukraine anymore. Why? In Europe it feels like Russia and America are partners and now working together against Ukraine. Many Ukrainians will now die because they won't give up fighting for their country. This situation is so sad. Europe is now putting together their own military alliance. If they are lucky Canada and Australia will support them.


My concerns are not just with eastern Europe. All European countries are endangered. Even the Russians can't believe what is happening right now.

Democrats, lol...

Republicans DO have a solution.
And, when Trump speaks, HE FUK'N MEANS IT!

Rob,

To me, The West is what it has always been, "Western Civilization." Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Europe, Scandinavia, Western Hemisphere post Columbus.

As far as Trump destabilizing the West?
You see it that way. I see him disrupting and re-setting it. It's a gamble but it should result in a stronger "West."

In his 1st term, he told NATO and the EU, that they weren't meeting their defense expenditure obligations. So some of them started meeting them.
In his second, he is telling them, they cannot default the Ukraine-Russia problem to the US and draw us into another expensive endless war. As a result, some of them, are stepping up to take some charge.

The end result is a stronger EU and NATO...though pissed at Trump for his tactics, I suppose.

As for the Russians, getting along optimally well, with a "gas stop with nukes," is better than not.
And if it works out that they invade Finland or Poland, NATO and the EU will have more firepower and readiness to use it.

Marty,
I'm sorry, but I don't agree with you. I'm all for NATO, I have the impression you're not, but that's ok. In German television they just reported that Putin announced that he is not willing to accept any ceasefire deals in Ukraine. There you have it. Zelensky was right. Trump's deal wasn't an acceptable deal in the first place. It looks like there are only two alternatives: give up or fight.

Can you tell me what this tariff chaos is all about? Sometimes Trump says it's because of drugs, then migrants. Now I think it has something to do with trade balances. First he announces tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Hours before they go into effect he postpones them. Now they go into effect and two days later he cancels them. Trump was so proud of USMCA because it was a fair deal for all 3 countries. Now it isn't? Companies around the world are holding their breath. Stock markets are tanking. A devaluation of the US dollar is taking place. This is not a game. The whole world could go into a recession because of this. This is economic warfare and Trump is escalating this to extremes. China is mad. As a reaction, they are talking about selling weapons to Russia and even taking Taiwan if Trump continues his tariff games. Do we really want this? If yes, then Trump should put the necessary tariffs in place and stop acting like he has no idea what he is doing. Marty, now you can go and tell me that what he is doing is totally correct and necessary and nobody needs stocks anyway.

Rob,

I think that NATO is great. But I also think, that since WW2, 90% of NATO action is the US.
EU countries need to step up. That is not unreasonable.

Russia, Trump and Zelensky are going to say all sorts of crap in the upcoming weeks. Don't take any of it to the bank.
After a horrible war with a million casualties and burnt out towns, any negotiations are going to be acrimonious, rocky and drawn out.
But, it is better that they be attempted, than not.
I am hoping for a full cease fire as they occur.

The same is true with all this tariff stuff. All these a-holes, all over the place, are bumpin-their-gums about something.
That wash is going to be in spin-cycle for a while to come.

Though, I have a question for you....
If it is true that India tariffs American mfg cars 100 percent, or any percent?
What is unfair about the US matching that tariff on Indian cars?
What is unfair about the US matching categorically all tariffs from every country that trades with us?

Marty

Nothing is wrong with matching foreign tariffs. I actually support that. Why isn't Trump putting 100% on Indian cars? Are any tariffs in place on goods from India? But Marty, that is not what he is doing. Come on. There is a fair trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the USA. Trump signed it a few years ago. He claimed it was historic! Who are the a-holes you mentioned? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 72.5 percent of agricultural imports came from Mexico in 2023. Mexico supplies fresh fruits and vegetables to the United States. Why? Because it gets cold in the US in winter and we all want to eat fresh food. That's a no-brainer Marty. He put a 25% tax on those products and he's telling the American people that helps fight inflation. What? Do you believe him? According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Canada accounted for around 42 per cent of all foreign eggs sent to the United States in 2023. Bamm! Those eggs are now 25% more expensive. American farmers have to lay more eggs from one day to the next, lol.
We are both intelligent people. We know how this is going to end. America puts tariffs on products from country x. They retaliate with their own tariffs on US products. America retaliates. Country x retaliates again. We end up in a vicious cycle and you and me pay the price. That is the end of fair world trade. I think Trump is too old to do intelligent deals like he did previously with Mexica and Canada. Raising taxes is easier.

All little babies grow teeth... Mommy has to take away the nipple...
And, pacifiers make their teeth crooked.

Rob,

I don't know what is in the existing trade agreements as they stand.
But if they contain one-sided tariffs on US goods, then I, and a lot of people, don't care what's in them.
We want them looked at, and if it is un-fair, we want it made fair.
And if squaring them up makes us run out of bananas in February, I don't eat that many bananas anyway.

I basically agree with your last paragraph that trade wars ultimately seize up markets...all things being fairly equal.
But in the case where the major singular market is headed by chumps who let their own country be taken advantage of by much smaller "trading partners,
THEN...when a once-in-a-century-disrupter comes to power that can choke the smaller trading partners markets off, those trading partners can't be so bold, and have to come to more equitable terms.

I, and others, believe that possible scenario is worth shaking the tree.

And there are wild cards,

Sheinbaum is only president of part of Mexico. Roughly 60-70 percent.
30-40 percent is controlled by warring, quasi-feudalistic drug-cartel-warlords. (who have influence all over Mexico)
The place is a wretched mess.
If Trump seals the border tight and cuts trade with Mexico down or off, that will lock Sheinbaum and the cartels up together and Mexico will likely devolve into a revolution. That would already be the case if not for illegal immigration and remittances.
If I know that, so does Sheinbaum, the socialist.

Also,
I'm sure that you know that every asset class is in a bubble.
The top 30% are rich with inflated stocks and art works, etc.
The bottom 70% are collectively badly behind on some of their car payments.
A correction is inevitable.
One correction scenario is to let the stock market and everything else fall in order to ring money out of the system.
Trump may DESIRE that to happen early in his term, rather than later.
The risk is that it wont stop at a recession.

And the most important thing for you to remember is that Marty don't really know what's gonna happen. He's just some ole' guy that wonders and watches.

Marty,
your post put a big smile on my face. The existing USMCA agreement between Mexico, Canada and the US was not touched by the Biden/Harris administration. It is still in place, unchanged. The agreement was signed by Donald J. Trump in early 2020. This is what he said about the agreement: “The USMCA is the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law. It’s the best agreement we’ve ever made. I have to, certainly, give my highest regards to Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. A lot of stories came out about Justin and I having difficulty together, and we did over the trade deal. But I’ll tell you, it’s turned out to be a very, very good deal for both; and a very, very good deal for all three. It puts us in a position that we’ve never been in before."

You wrote "we want them looked at". Maybe you are right and we should double-check the agreement. Who knows, maybe Trump lied and the deal is unfair. We all know he has lied in the past. But if you are right and if the agreement actually is unfair and Trump, the chump, let his country be taken advantage of by much smaller trading partners, well, I suggest he should be fired! Signing agreements that are bad for the country is one thing but lying to the American people … in my view that is an absolute no-go. If that's the case, fire him! But wait, I think we can't fire him ... we could impeach him though.
Mexico is the largest single source of US horticultural imports. In 2023 Mexico supplied 63% of US vegetable imports and 47% of US fruit and nut imports. Marty, you apparently don’t need bananas. Who needs vegetables, fruits and nuts? I agree with you, I’m sure Americans can do without them. Are you really talking about cutting trade with Mexico completely off? If you do that, you’ll get problems with the NRA. They are selling loads of guns to Mexico. Those cartels you described have an insatiable appetite for American guns. Ooh, the NRA will hate you for saying that.
Marty, I have the impression you think these tariffs will really hurt those other countries. Maybe a little but not as much as they hurt America. Mexico can sell their vegetables to other countries. Those tariffs/taxes will hurt the American people the most. European countries know Trump will place tariffs on their products too. They are already looking for alternative markets. China is a possible candidate. I hate the idea but what should Europe do? If America doesn't buy their products because of the Trump taxes, they sell them somewhere else.


Marty, what you write here is total nonsense.
Trump has his own stock: Trump Media. His best buddies are Musk, Bezos, Cook and co., they all own companies listed on the stock market. Are you trying to tell me these guys want to dimmish their wealth substantially for the good of America? Marty, come on. You’re pulling my leg! Trump DESIRES that to happen? If that were the case, they should sell their stocks and donate the money to reduce our debt instead of just watching their profits evaporate on the stock market.
Every asset class is in a bubble? I happen to know a little of what I'm talking about here. That statement is total BS. A correction on the stock market is not inevitable. Who told you that? Stocks are not overvalued at the moment. You probably don't own stocks. If you did, you'd know better. If you ruin the stock market, you ruin the US economy. Can you give me just one reason why anybody would want to ruin the US economy? Marty, now I'm getting scared. In your opinion, what does make America great again mean? Many Americans have 401k plans. Why would Trump put our retirements plans at risk? I can't recall him ever saying he wanted to do that.


Yes, true. We both don't know what the future has in store for us.

Hi Tony,
thanks for the feedback. I hope you're ok.

All the best - Robert

I'm talking "nonsense" Rob?
I don't talk nonsense.

P/Es are not above historical norms?
No correction in sight?
Asset values are just what they ought to be?
The money supply is just what it ought to be? The fed has to pump in 1 trillion of magically printed debt just to service debt on past overruns...before it even starts paying for current goods and services. But, no problem there? All is well"

Wife and I have a few things. We own stock, but are mostly in cash and cd's right now. A couple of houses. Virtually no debt.

As for Trump, he exaggerates and lies from time to time. So did did Biden and Harris.
I voted for Trump based on expected outcomes versus witnessed outcomes with Biden or Harris. A lot of people did.
That is why your candidate lost decisively after the world had 8 years to look at how horrible Trump is.

You hate him and want everything that he does to be wrong. But that is wrong. And it predetermines your perceptions of fact without any actual consideration.
TDS appears to be a real pathology, as manifested by the dims at the speech. They stunned the world by acting like sullen children, who have nothing more to offer the citizenry than...that they hate Trump. Taking no read from the election, they isolated themselves even more than the election issues did and they stuck their own fingers in their own eyes. It is as if Trump wrote their script causing them to beat themselves up with their own fists.

Trump is performing well at the border.
Trump is performing well by putting Zelensky and the world on notice, that their wars and entanglements are not necessarily our wars and entanglements.
Trump is doing well at painting the EU into a corner where they have to step up.

I am willing to also give him a chance with tariffs and chopping down the govt bureacracy. It is my opinion that if someone doesnt do something it will ultimately fail anyway. The demographics dont work vis-a-vis the unfunded liabilities. Trump's tactics may not work out perfectly, may not work out all, but the situation needs a look.

I think that covers it for me. If you think my opinions are nonsense, then that is what you think.

I find it absolutely fascinating how people from the same country can see things so totally differently.


I’ve been invested in the stock market for over 45 years and my retirement plan depends heavily on stocks. I don’t think PEs in general are extremely high. Yes, there are a handful of AI related stocks that have been going up for the past 3 years and they have very high PEs. But who knows how much money they will make in the future with the products they are developing. Personally, I think these couple of stocks are risky and could go through a correction phase soon. In my opinion, the other stocks are ok and I don’t understand why you think there is a correction in sight or even necessary. What does the stock market have to do with politics? I don’t understand the connection between the stock market and the debt of our country and why money has to be taken out of the system. The debt is a result of our previous presidents. Like the other presidents, Trump added a lot of debt during his 4 years. Remember? Debt is a big problem for almost every country on our planet. You solve the problem by paying the money back. But, Trump wants to get rid of the debt ceiling. To me, it doesn’t look like he wants to solve our debt problem. I'm sorry, but I can't follow his logic. I’m sure you can explain to me how more debt will solve our debt problem. I can't remember, did Trump say he wanted to lower our debt? In a press conference yesterday, Trump was asked what he makes of the stock market sell off this week. This was his answer: “I think it’s globalist that see how rich our country’s gonna be and they don’t like it. You know, a big market out there. But, again, they’ve been ripping off this country for years and now … and they’re gonna do great. Everyone’s gonna do great, but we can’t let this continue to happen to America otherwise we’re not gonna have a country any longer. Thank you very much everybody.” Marty, do you understand any of this? What is he saying? Is he speaking English? It sounds like he has some kind of problems. Don't you think so? What if Biden had talked like this? People are ripping off the country by buying American stocks on the stock market??? In my opinion, this guy has no idea what he is talking about, but feel free to explain what he said.


I’m not sure what Trump is actually doing on the border. He’s got a good marketing team who makes me think that he is. I sure hope he is because the official numbers don’t back that up yet.


Your comment about Zelensky with his wars and entanglements sounds like you’re blaming him for what is going on. Ukraine was attacked by an aggressor and all they are doing is defending themselves. Trump has just lost the leadership of the free world, but it sounds like that’s a good thing that we don’t have to get involved in anything anymore. Trump actually now switched sides and is supporting Russia. He ordered to suspend military intelligence sharing with Ukraine and shut off the access to satellites. Now the Ukrainian forces don’t know where the Russian forces are anymore. Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers died yesterday. Partially because of that. Ukraine is only trying to defend themselves. Marty, Ukraine was a participant in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and deployed troops as part of NATO's ISAF mission to the country. They fought together with American troops. Is this the way you treat your allies? What is so bad about giving them access to to satellites and intelligence information? Not one American soldier will die because of that.

Marty, I would like to end our discussion because you are getting very personal and claiming things about me that aren’t true.
To set things straight:

Who is my candidate? Just because I don’t like Trump doesn’t mean I’m for Biden/Harris. I find it scary that many Americans think that way about me. For them you are either red or blue. Marty, my world is colorful. In Germany we have over 40 different parties. My world is not black or white, male or female, it’s colorful and diverse. I’m actually a Mitt Romney fan but he didn’t run this time around.

That’s not true. Read what I wrote in this thread. I praised him for his deal with Mexico and Canada 4 years ago. You were the one who questioned that deal and said it needed to be checked. I also said that in his speech he touched a bunch of very important topics and that he is an excellent show man.

With the term TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) you are suggesting that I have a medical condition, some kind of mental problems. All the time I’ve been explaining to you why I come to my conclusions. Marty, you've crossed a line here. Sorry, but I can't continue this discussion and I would prefer to leave politics out of our future discussions, collaborations, etc.

Take care - Robert

If the eagle folds its wings and leaves the world to fate
Who will stand against the storm before it is too late?

[Chorus]
Are we standing here alone? Will the West turn away?
If the wolves breach the border, who will make them pay?
A silence in the distance, a whisper in the dark
The world holds its breath, will they strike the first spark?
Shadows on the border, shadows on the border

I still love these lyrics.

Rob,
I suspect that you would like me to end this conversation because your talking points haven't brought me around, and that reached a point of frustration...that caused "nonsense" to bubble up.

You made some allegations and assertions that aren't realistic...I'll keep my last response short,

You have been investing for 45 years. I have investments also and a wife who is an EVP at a regional bank. Believe what you will about the state of the economy. Be careful. As far as what you don't understand, inflation and M2. Look at the graphs.

Russia built up an army on the border with Ukraine and invaded. They have immediate proximity and a bad relationship. Ukraine is too corrupt for the EU and NATO, yet a battleground for democracy? Some of us don't think so. Some of us think that Zelensky has become too reliant on summoning US resources. Trump, the elected president is one.

You arent sure what Trump is doing at the border? I know people who have property down there and they are sure. It's a changed place, but because of your bias, you cant allow yourself to see that.

You don't like Trump and that doesnt mean that you like Biden and Harris. Okay? So what do you like what?

You praised Trump? lol. That was a reverse straw-man tactic.

Crossed the line? Dismissing someone's beliefs as nonsense is allowed (by you) and completely cordial, but suggesting that someone has TDS is a foul? That is one-sided and deluded thinking.

Rob,
I actually enjoy talking politics with people of contrary views. I like seeing why people think what they think. I enjoy challenging their views and seeing what they come back with. But it never works out. You were my last hope for that here. With your relatives situation and liberal inclinations, you seem to be running a lot hotter on the subject of Trump and Ukraine than I am.

I always believed that "TDS, snowflake, twinky, libtard," etc were just silly ways for right-wingers to badger progressives. Post election, with the speech the other night and the behavior of the dims on national tv, now, I genuinely feel that there may be something to it.

I agree that it is a good time to stop. And a suggestion,
if you don't like the sting of an opposed POV, and resort to calling it nonsense, and are going to take your ball and go home, don't put up full-on political statements in the form of songs.

Marty

Ps, I personally believe that it is a bad idea to express your love for your own art. That strikes ME as narcissistic. I personally believe that you should always question your own art. It's art and subjective.

Marty,
I said that I accept and respect your opinions. Remember? I never said that I wanted to “bring you around”.

My final statement on Ukraine: Ukraine was a participant in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and deployed troops as part of NATO's ISAF mission to the country. They fought side-by-side with American troops. What is so bad about thanking them for their support by giving them access to satellites and intelligence information? Not one American soldier will die because of that. Trump just changed sides by doing what he did. Many Ukrainians will now die because of that. And as a result, the new Russian boarder is moving closer to where my family lives. Yes, this topic is a hot topic for me just like the Mexican boarder is for you.

You ask me what I like if I don’t like Trump, Biden or Harris. I like someone younger, someone who can also relate to the needs of the younger generation of Americans, someone who can say what he believes in and explain to me how he wants to achieve his targets. Someone who doesn’t lie, stands up for democracy, someone who wants to make America a better place for Americans, all Americans. I don't care if that someone is red, blue or a colorful rainbow.

In my opinion Trumps tariffs (taxes) are total nonsense. Just today, big European companies are announcing the downsizing of their American factories. So far, they supplied all of North America from those US facilities. Now, with the taxes in place it’s cheaper to supply Canada and Mexico from Europe, rather than from the US. They will lay off thousands of people in the US because of the tariffs. This is happening right now and Trump is only starting to implement his tax wars.

I used the word nonsense because what you wrote made no sense to me. In my opinion, crashing the stock market won’t solve any of our problems. You never explained to me why you thought differently. So, that statement still makes no sense to me. You misunderstood me if you thought that was an insult. When I tell you what I think and it doesn’t fit in the template you see me in, you say I’m using a reverse straw-man tactic. You called me a Democrat and said I like Biden/Harris. I never called you mentally sick, diluted, liberally inclined or a narcissist. Marty, as I said, you are not sticking to the topics we originally talked about. You are starting to attack me personally. All of this has nothing to do with our political discissions.

You call my song a full-up political song. It looks like you misunderstood the song. I wrote that the song is about Russian Angst, not America. In the song I’m not pointing the finger at anybody other than Putin/Russia. You seem to have major issues with it. I would like to point out that I wrote it before America decided to hand over Ukraine to Russia.

Before I met Andrew Gold I always questioned if my songs were good enough to share them with other people. Andrew taught me to love and be proud of what I create. Since I met and worked with him, I love what I create because every piece is unique. It’s a part of me. I loved and still love all the product videos I produced, all the data sheets and white papers I wrote during my professional career because they were part of me and my conviction. I never question what I create in general but I often question if what I create can be improved. Andrew said that even his biggest hits could have been improved. If my thinking is narcissistic, I guess I’ll have to live with it Marty, because I just like to tell people straight-forward what I think. I love the lines of this song. I think I did a very good job on expressing what I felt at the time i wrote them. If you think differently, that's your problem, not mine. Feel free to question your songs as much as you want. I think you've written some pretty good stuff and I always told you what I thought.

Take care - Robert

Rob,
I didn't read all of that. I ran my eyes down it and saw the word "nonsense" and read that context.

A bit of advice,
When you call someone's stated opinion "nonsense," you are condemning it as invalid, nonsensical and untruthful.
The subtext of that is "you are a fool for believing that."
Whenever I speculate, I get some things wrong or not-quite-right. When it comes to economics, so does Jamie Dimon. My words usually, actually, come from someone like him. The future is not known until it becomes the past.
However, I don't state things that are nonsensical.

A personal opinion,
I've seen three people here, heap praise upon their own lyrics. You and Dom are two.
This subtext of "I love" this, is,
"I did it and I love it because I am so self infatuated." It is not a fact that you are, but it's best to let your art speak for itself. imo.

"What I sought to convey when I wrote this..."

In this thread, I've said all that I have to say about Trump and his many ramifications. See no need to go into it again.

I agree with one thing that you said...let's just go back to keeping it on the songs. I broke the rule and paid a price.

Have a good day,

Marty