Politics

[Crazed_Insanity]

Dude, why are you talking like a sick fuck judgemental prick?

I already told you that I'd 'pray' to God about possibly making such changes, not making changes as if I am God okay?

I think our Supreme Court is playing God like the crusaders of the past... thinking that they're doing God's will... or maybe they're just doing their own wills and pretending to be doing it for God. I guess only God knows. However, it should be clear that our supreme court justices have been corrupted...

[21Kid]

Lol, only saw the quoted line, but I can't imagine why someone who believes in free speech absolutism also thinks that other things must have a "healthy balance."

FWIW, I think we had one. Anyone who wants an abortion can get one, and the government can't force you to have one. That's a pretty healthy balance.
<3

It amazes me how many of you still try to have a conversation with Billi. It's like trying to converse with a 1st Gen AI that's just pulling random things out of it's ass.

I completely skip posts referring to, or quoting him. It's a waste of time.

[Tom Servo]

I can't guarantee I won't have a moment of weakness again, but him trying to argue that snake oil people deserve a voice after the same people led my friend to take her own life was for now the last straw. Just the most fucked up thing I can think of him doing, and certainly as far from being Christian as I can imagine. And then to keep trying to do it when I think I made my feelings about what he did absolutely crystal clear was the icing on the cake.

Nobody who truly cares for their fellow man sits there and tries to get the last word/make their point in that situation. It was gross.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It amazes me how many of you are having conversations about Billi while pretending Billi doesn’t exist!

Anyway, I think it’s bull shit to think that I’m trying to argue for snake oil salesmen who supposedly caused your friend to commit suicide.

Anyway, whatever, it’s similar to us looking at the same person, say Peterson or Musk and we can see totally different things. Who’s really right? Who knows? None of us actually know them personally so we both could be wrong…

I think this is politics… neither side can know for sure if they’re truly right so it makes sense to work together to avoid extremism…

Seriously though, how diverse can your world be if somebody like Billi is too annoying to be acceptable? I can understand CCP finds Billi super annoying but anyways, if it’s really more about my inability to ‘read the room’, well, there are also plenty of socially awkward people… what are we suppose to do with them? Ignore them all?

[FaultyMario]

Assange is free and home in Australia with his wife and kids.

he is expected to travel to court in the US, declare himself guilty of espionage and be sentenced to time served.

[Tom Servo]

That's going to be an interesting one, because a lot of the conspiracy type folk thought it'd be Trump who would essentially let Assange off the hook. I'm personally of the opinion that wikileaks and his initial things were ultimately good and noble, but then he turned into a weird rapey crank and should probably serve time for that, but it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out amongst the more Q-aligned folks out here.

[FaultyMario]

rapey was part of character assassination by cia. i think both of the girls recanted their stories as exaggerated.

crankey? can you blame him, really? plus the guys who were hired as his security detail during his time in the equatorian embassy have spilled the beans on the times that they were contacted by British intelligence to do nefarious things to him.

[Tom Servo]

Yeah, I can blame him. It's actually quite easy to do. He turned into a pro-Trump crank when he decided that was best for him and threw his morals away when doing so. Fuck that guy.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I still don't really know what to think of those guys like Assange and Snowden...

I understand the seriousness of disclosing classified documents; however, if you think US government is doing some hanky panky and on morally shaky grounds, must we stay silent and just do as told?

If I'm in a position to expose some dark US crap, I'd definitely leak it too. If I'll goto jail, so be it. For sure I wouldn't run to Russia or China or to seek refuge anywhere else. Of course I'd probably make sure my wife and kid are taken care of 1st before they lock me up and let me rot in jail...

This is one of the issues that soured my admiration for Obama. I thought he's different, but it turned out that he's just like W. There's simply not enough transparency with our government, and yet we expect to have no conspiracies to fly around when there are so many cover ups. Conspiracy theories are only around because there's a dense fog... of course eventually the fog will clear up. Truth will always eventually bubble up to the top no matter how people try to cover it up.

[FaultyMario]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRBpO0PW8AEaD6h.jpg

[Yw-slayer]

Is it time for us to WONDER who's behind these attempts?

[FaultyMario]

It's always a group of empowered local bullies.

where:

'local" means "we are respectful of the internal politics"
"bullies" conveniently means either "freedom fighters" or "rogue actors"

one only has to solve for "empowered".

[FaultyMario]

https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fit,q_60,w_1315/da5c488763b2fe3f21e9e36454ab79cd.jpg

Trump Boys Break Into CNN Office Attempting To Steal Debate Answers (https://www.theonion.com/trump-boys-break-into-cnn-office-attempting-to-steal-de-1851554242)

[MR2 Fan]

I watched 30 seconds of Biden trying to speak halfway thru the debate and couldn't watch any more...it's bad man

[sandydandy]

I watched the whole debate.

Biden was low octane all evening, (some people are saying he had a cold), and Trump couldn’t answer questions without running circles around them first.

This was a waste of time.

[FaultyMario]

I watched the debate.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRH-NBeXgAEuWnO.jpg

[MR2 Fan]

I'm still voting for "Weekend at Biden's" over Mango Mussolini of course, but there really needs to be an age limit on Presidents/Congress/Supreme Court....this is just bad...Now Kamala Harris is going to be much more in the conversation (Referring to if Biden couldn't complete his second term) along with whoever Trump's running-mate will be.


I've seen some commentators that Biden "will recover" from this but you can't de-age someone.

[Rare White Ape]

He “will recover” after he has a nice afternoon nap.

[Yw-slayer]

*Points and laughs at Billi's options in 哈哈哈哈哈哈*

[Tom Servo]

Yeah, that was a rough one. It *should* matter more that Trump literally just never stopped lying. Daniel Dale pointed out that at one point he lied three times in a single sentence. Instead, everyone's focusing on the stye points.

On the plus side, people think that debates matter more than they actually do. Most people who watch them already have their minds made up.

[FaultyMario]

I think the person who was in front of the candidates was complicit in the orangegutan's lies.

You do not spend 39 minutes of blatant misrepresentations and then step in. you either come in prepared with an strategy of accountability to deal with the two persons vying for the single most powerful position on earth or you read your questions and shut up.

Lukewarmness is worse than favoritism.

Specially when one of the candidates is a proven threat to life on earth.

[FaultyMario]

I know there's no precedent for substituting a presidential candidate this late into the process*, and I understand that there's some sort of reverence to the figure of President that makes it hard to present that alternative to Biden but, could the Democrats just radio in telling him that "Kamala is faster than you"? I don't think that would present itself as a problem to voters, it's basically the same team and Biden would take a sort of Elder Statesman role over the presidency.


___
* That cluster is the democrats' own making, this could have been avoided had they tested Biden's public abilities against other candidates with a limited primary.

[FaultyMario]

FWIW, I don't think there's anything wrong with Biden's cognitive or leadership abilities. He seems to be respected and obeyed by his staff. He's just an older man who's lost agility and power in his communication but that is not a problem because he clearly still commands authority over his team.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, debate didn’t change my mind. Still voting for neither.

How much longer will we be forced to play this 2 party game?

How much longer will Xi lives so China will be under his rule?

I don’t know.

But I’m hopeful.

[Rare White Ape]

the single most powerful position on earth

I think it's kinda adorable if anyone thinks that this is so.

[FaultyMario]

Just wait and see Trump endorse those other idiots like Milei and watch the rest of the world crumble under their idiotic policies.

Just wait and see Trump appoint another sycophant like Peter Navarro on economic issues and watch billions of people suffer because of trade 'battles' and standoffs.

Just wait and see Trump ask his Joint Staff to carry out missile strikes against the Bad Hombres and watch them resign one by one, losing valuable human capital in the process.

[George]

Missed the debate last night due to a softball game, and I'm sure glad I did, now that I've seen some highlights. :eek:

Jon Stewart's after-debate show on YouTube was pretty good...or bad, if you know what I mean.

Also, Lauren Boebert, who narrowly won re-election in a district in western Colorado by a mere 554 votes in 2022, apparently saw the writing on the wall and carpetbagged over to the eastern half of the state and won the primary on Tuesday to become the Republican candidate for Colorado's 4th Congressional District.

Guess who else lives in Colorado's 4th Congressional District? :(

[sandydandy]

I noticed they didn’t shake hands at the beginning. The hate for one another seems so personal.

Ben Shapiro called Biden a corpse last night…and it’s hard not to agree. :|

[MR2 Fan]

This is what bothers me....last night he did a small event and sounded fine, and today...while this audience feels very....staged...he was much more active and fired up.

What sucks is it was Biden and his team who decided to do the debate schedule


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5CVZHAjrW8

[Crazed_Insanity]

Never mind Biden looks frail physically and not as sharp mentally. I thought it’s disingenuous to blame Trump for shutting down schools and businesses in a pandemic. As if he wouldn’t do the same?

Also, claiming that he sent no US troops abroad to fight forever wars and Trump sent troops to Afghanistan. These are factual statements but still full of BS.

As for Trump, the fact that Mike Pence won’t endorse him and lots of other folks who has worked for him refused to endorse him tells us a lot.

If we don’t demand change, one day, we’ll be forced to choose between Putinelli or Xitler and still be proud of our so called freedom and democracy!

[neanderthal]

All this ageist nonsense about Biden, DONALD TRUMP IS JUST 3 1/2 YEARS YOUNGER!!!!

And he doesn't sound nearly as batshit as Trump.

To me Trump has moments of lucidity and Biden has moments of old age.

[MR2 Fan]

Look, Trump only talked about admiring Hannibal Lecter 3 times in his rallies....I think.

Anyway, I don't think the debate will have long-term impact, there's plenty of time for Trump to get worse in his speeches and Biden seems like he can recover and possibly getting over a cold really was all it was (horrendous timing)

[MR2 Fan]

So the Supreme Court ruled Trump has *some* immunity but only in official capacity whatever that gets interpreted as. While this was BAD, it could have been WORSE.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I do agree presidential candidates and sitting presidents ought to have some immunity so that political opponents can't weaponize the court to try to sideline political opponents. Similarly, if we are to impeach future presidents, unless we have an independent partyless president, we ought to just count of votes of senators who are in the same party as the president. It's kinda stupid to let your political opponents impeach you. If people of the same party's unwilling to impeach you, then maybe what you have done wasn't so bad? The normal partisan fights in office are already bad enough, do we really want to tie them all down in courts?

If something is seriously bad enough, then we prosecute to the fullest extent and jail the sucker at the end of his term.

Most of the time when at the end of their political careers, such 'political justice' really won't matter anymore...

Bottomline is that we shouldn't allow our courts to get too 'political'. They should just fight for justice, not for any political sides. Any public political offices with term limits ought to have some sort of immunity while they're in office. We can deal with them when their term ends.

[MR2 Fan]

I'm completely ignoring whatever Billi is saying above....

The only good thing that might come out of this is that people may be less inclined to sit on the sidelines...the bigger threat from Trump, the more people who sat out in other elections who are left leaning (or, you know, sensible) would vote for Biden. The reason Trump won in 2016 is a lot of people thought it would be a Hillary landslide, so they stayed home or voted third party.

[Tom Servo]

The great thing about America is that nobody is above the law. Hang on, I'm getting a message in my earpiece here.....The great thing about America is that dictators fucking rule and should be able to do whatever they want.

[MR2 Fan]

and people wonder why I want to move out of the country

[Tom Servo]

A little backstory: CA passed a law banning extra fees. They had to be rolled into the price, and it was set to go into effect today. Hotel resort fees, airline ticket fees, concert ticket fees, all of that had to just be rolled into the price so when you see something saying it costs $150, it costs $150 (sales tax excepted, because of course it is).

Restaurants out here have gotten out of control with this. Lots of places tack on a 5% service fee for "fair wages" or whatever. Some charge another 20% for "security". Lately, a brunch spot has started a 20% mandatory tip for takeout orders. They were also going to have to just roll this into menu prices.

An "emergency" bill got written up and passed in the past couple of weeks exempting restaurants from this. It was co-written by one of my (formerly) favorite state senators.

It's snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This was a bill that was *wildly* popular. It was pro-consumer and just said "tell us what things cost."

Even the pols I like are trying to radicalize me.

I've sorta half joked with Michele about "should we just move to Barcelona?" and now I am 100% serious about the idea. This place is fucked.

(I am keeping in mind that I'm in the anger stage of grief and won't be making any rash decisions just yet)

[MR2 Fan]

Yes, the land of the free...

Where wackos can shoot you while shopping, or watching a movie, or attending a concert with now legal bump stocks to make their guns shoot fully automatic to hit as many people as possible.
Where one illness can bankrupt you for life.
Where housing is 40% higher cost than just a couple of years ago due to massive corporations buying up all of the housing and setting prices.
Where insurance companies can also charge extreme rates, then fight against actually covering you in the event you need them.
Where there are several places where there is a monopoly for cable/internet services or electricity.
Where one political party sits back and lets the other do whatever they want to subvert democracy and never holds anyone accountable.
Where the banking sector can bankrupt millions of people and also doesn't hold any bankers accountable, but gets propped up by our tax dollars to stay in business.
Where the police get to buy and use military-grade hardware while our schoolteachers struggle to buy basic necessities for their students out of their own pockets.

Yeah...great country we have here.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's not great, that's why we need to make it great again! :p

In case you did not realize that I'm joking, just want to clarify that I'm joking! Clearly Trump didn't make our country great again even if we ignore the pandemic dampening everything down. Like I've said before, I do like Trump making America way less 'invasive' than before.

Unfortunately Biden is making forever wars more forever again.

Speaking of that, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden felt to me like Boeing Whistleblowers... And US government feels like Boeing wish those whistleblowers could just shut up and die so they can go about their business making money.

I wonder if Trump would treat these whistleblowers fairly hoping to damage his political opponents? That'd be cool.

So maybe Trump could draining the swamp and hopefully not be a dictator and then hopefully somebody like Bernie Sanders can take over and truly build America and the world back better again? I'll gladly tolerate Trump for another 4 years if I could have that. A win for Biden will likely means we maintain status quo for longer?

Even France is moving right and nationalistic politically... is it really because the conservative right folks are too dumb and too out of control? Or perhaps they're just reacting to some of the bad liberal globalist policies?

I think globalists' greed and proudness are beginning to fall like the Tower of Babel... and global cooperation is ending and each nation has decided to exit out of globalism and looking after themselves...

[neanderthal]

A little backstory: CA passed a law banning extra fees. They had to be rolled into the price, and it was set to go into effect today. Hotel resort fees, airline ticket fees, concert ticket fees, all of that had to just be rolled into the price so when you see something saying it costs $150, it costs $150 (sales tax excepted, because of course it is).

Restaurants out here have gotten out of control with this. Lots of places tack on a 5% service fee for "fair wages" or whatever. Some charge another 20% for "security". Lately, a brunch spot has started a 20% mandatory tip for takeout orders. They were also going to have to just roll this into menu prices.

An "emergency" bill got written up and passed in the past couple of weeks exempting restaurants from this. It was co-written by one of my (formerly) favorite state senators.

It's snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This was a bill that was *wildly* popular. It was pro-consumer and just said "tell us what things cost."

Even the pols I like are trying to radicalize me.

I've sorta half joked with Michele about "should we just move to Barcelona?" and now I am 100% serious about the idea. This place is fucked.

(I am keeping in mind that I'm in the anger stage of grief and won't be making any rash decisions just yet)

A friend of mine is getting married in February, in South Africa. I DON'T DO DESTINATION WEDDINGS. You better believe i'm going.

Backstory. I was asking for stock tips from my cousin and he straight up said "Mo I don't even know why you're still working. If you cashed our your 401K, took the penalty and moved to South Africa you could retire comfortably with the money you have right now." He don't even know my shit trippled since 2018.
So yeah, i'm going to scout Mzansi in in February because fuck this shit.

Mum coming in a couple of weeks, I gotta have her bring her birth certificate, which i'll need to take to the embassy in Los Angeles to claim my citizenship. I'm done with this. The bullshit, the lack of accountability, the deterioration of standards and civics, the blatant lying from politicos, the overt schilling of the media, the wanton overt corruption in the Supreme Court, etc etc etc

All I need is electricity, clean water, and internet and im happy as a clam. I'm done!

[Tom Servo]

Feel free to hit me up when you're here in LA.

[sandydandy]

So Trump has presidential immunity...doesn't that mean Biden has it too now? Why doesn't Biden commit an outrageous 'crime' against the Republicans to cut Trump's legs out from under him, since he'll now be protected? Sign a bunch of executive orders or something to encumber Trump's ability to run, I don't know.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wait a minute Neanderthal... what do you mean 'claim your citizenship'? You mean you don't have citizenship? So you didn't vote Hillary?!?!? Then how could you blame me?!?!? :p

Anyway, cashing out on your 401k and move to South Africa doesn't sound like a bad idea..., but then again I never been there. It's good to check it out and see if you could really retire early and comfortably there. Good luck!

[MR2 Fan]

So Trump has presidential immunity...doesn't that mean Biden has it too now? Why doesn't Biden commit an outrageous 'crime' against the Republicans to cut Trump's legs out from under him, since he'll now be protected? Sign a bunch of executive orders or something to encumber Trump's ability to run, I don't know.


If I was Biden and if it was actually possible to do this...throw out the tainted supreme court justices with obvious ethical issues, replace the supreme court justices, then move a case up the court so they could overturn the immunity thing, abolish the electoral college,...oh and pass a requirement that people running for president cannot be convicted felons.

[Tom Servo]

So Trump has presidential immunity...doesn't that mean Biden has it too now? Why doesn't Biden commit an outrageous 'crime' against the Republicans to cut Trump's legs out from under him, since he'll now be protected? Sign a bunch of executive orders or something to encumber Trump's ability to run, I don't know.

To quote a great philosopher over on Twitter:

"The last decade has been the Democrats clinging onto the rulebook going "but a dog can't play basketball!" while a dog fucking dunks on us over and over"

[Crazed_Insanity]

:lol: I think that great philosopher summed it up well... we should allow dogs to play basket ball!!! Don't be such a K9-ist!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Oh man, Central Bank talk? Are we about to get Rothschilds discourse here?

Moving this from space to here…

This has nothing to do with Roth’s or Ruth’s child…

Too much centralization is just asking for trouble. Just like dictatorship, more power will usually result in more corruption. Even if it’s not about corruption, too big to fail is just not a good way to go. 2008 has demonstrated that. We don’t need huge banks, let alone a central bank that can print money. In the aerospace business, # of rocket companies dwindled down to one, ULA is a merged version of Lockheed and Boeing. We had a lot more companies in the mix during Apollo days… and I think it’s safe to say that one giant company is not the best way to go there…

I think clearly Catholic Church and MegaChurches have also demonstrated that too big to fail is a bad idea.

Of course I don’t want Elon Musk to start a rival central to Elon bank. Hopefully he’ll create a more decentralized bank and monetary system. US government is for sure way too powerful for its own good. Politicians and agencies no longer have to be accountable to voters/taxpayers anymore. DOD can be in a forever war and they don’t really care about the missing billions here and there.

This trend is just not good for my child.

[neanderthal]

Feel free to hit me up when you're here in LA.

:up:

[Tom Servo]

I will regret this.

Billi - can you point me at a Central Bank? Like, one that's real and exists and does something? A global one that centralizes money?

I am worried about you. This is Alex Jones/Q nonsense. Every once in a while you say something and it's textbook conspiracy theory insanity. It's not good, man.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I would point to federal reserve the place that sets our interests and prints money. Current chair is Jerome Powell. That place doesn’t exist?

Of course we can’t bank there but it does control all banks in US.

[sandydandy]

The formation of the Central Bank is the single greatest crime against the American people. They're your real enemy - not left vs right BS. Your country is stuck in perpetual debt that can never be paid off. There are plenty of YouTube videos about this that are not conspiratorial in any way.

[Tom Servo]

Oh my god, I'm surrounded by gold standard people.

I give up.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's not just about gold standard... I'm sure they didn't start Fed Reserve for evil intentions.

However, is it a public government entity or is it a private thing?

Jerome Powell and all other Fed chairs were most definitely just a puppet.

That organization really has zero accountability to anybody. It alone has the power to decide which bank survives and which bank fails. For sure it has done some good, but as it accumulate more wealth and power, what can check balance it?

If you want me to point to a symbol of the 'establishment', this is it.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are not really part of that and would often times go against 'them'. So naturally 'they' would not mind crushing those who get in 'their' way every chance 'they' get. Of course, not saying Trump and Musk are good. But they are at least attempting to fight back against 'them'. Bernie fought hard too. However, Bernie lacks sufficient resources... having voter support just isn't enough. Just as our 'democratically' elected leaders don't really end up looking after the interests of the people.

Conspiracy or not, people all around the world are fighting back against 'them'. This is why Britain wanted to exit from their central control. Even France is going further to the right. Centralization didn't really work that well and people now want things decentralized. Rise of nationalism is not purely because of misinformation and conspiracies and white supremacy. If enough of people's lives are really being improved and doing well, why would they bother rocking the boat? People usually 'exit' out of their relationship because they think they're getting screwed, right? Why break up with somebody that's good for them?

In Russian and China and NK, we can at least clearly see who's in charge. In the West, the ones in charge are well hidden. Are those 'puppet' leaders in the West selected by voters or by 'them'? I think the answer should clearly just be rhetorical... We could believe we actually voted for those lesser of the 2 evils, but it's 'them' who fed those crappy puppet candidates to us. It doesn't matter if it's W or Obama, forever wars went on!

Even if the 'establishment' is really a conspiracy and they don't exist, it is still true that our current political, professional, and even spiritual leaders don't really care much for the average folks. Most of them only care about amassing more money and power.

So I guess Elon Musk and Donald Trump are our only problem because they're gaining more power and money... Once we get rid of them, surely we'll have a better world?

Personally, I'd not side with Trump. The only reason why I'd still trust Elon is because I'm unaware of his political ambitions. If he's just focusing on making stuffs, I'd support him that way. If he's being rewarded handsomely for making things people want, why not? If he screwed up and failed and become penniless, oh well too bad. I just want SpaceX to survive. ;)

[Yw-slayer]

Oh my god, I'm surrounded by gold standard people.

I give up.

CRYPTO 4 EVAR BRO

[mk]

Something is upside down.

USA is never unable to pay its debt.

[FaultyMario]

Projected UK results:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRrEhAYWMAACGg6.jpg

I hope some things get better.

[MR2 Fan]

Does this mean............BREENTER?

[Rare White Ape]

Something is upside down.

USA is never unable to pay its debt.

The debt that a country has is NOT the same as the debt that an individual has. You cannot equate the two, and anyone who tries telling you that there's something wrong with the government because it always has this debt is talking out their arse.

[FaultyMario]

Yup, I've always understood it as unpayable but manageable debt.

As in it should be weighed against other macro indicators such as rates of this and returns of that. And it really depends on the size and current role of the country.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I would not mind US financing Cold War, because that not only got us to the moon but perhaps also help raised standard of living with all the aerospace jobs.

However, when we start financing forever wars, if some are telling us there’s nothing wrong with that, clearly that someone would be talking out of his arse.

Plus, USSR has demonstrated that it is definitely possible for a country to end up unable to manage its debt.

[Rare White Ape]

Yup, I've always understood it as unpayable but manageable debt.

As in it should be weighed against other macro indicators such as rates of this and returns of that. And it really depends on the size and current role of the country.

It's definitely manageable. Sovereign debt should be seen as a 'rolling' debt. Money borrowed now is paid off later based on GDP and tax income, but in the intervening time more money has been borrowed and will be paid off later, and so-on. It's not as if the money borrowed by the founding fathers hasn't been paid off. And sure, having less debt is much better than having a load of debt, and accumulating more debt is worse. But think about how the economy would fare if money wasn't borrowed by governments to pay for society to function.

Also consider where the money comes from and where it goes. Believe it or not, the US government borrows money, but it also lends it out to other countries. Repayments on that help generate extra income through charging interest. On a grander scale, borrowing money for it to then be spent in the economy is essential, because money needs to move. If money doesn't move then commerce doesn't happen and the economy shrinks. That's how you avoid recessions. There's a huge paradox where people think if the economy is shrinking you need to tighten the straps to save money, but if nobody is spending money then it's hard for others to earn money.

Hoarding all the money in one place causes the economy to shrink. Letting billionaires get rich is actually really bad for the economy, as all of their wealth gets tied up in property or in bank accounts and doesn't move through the economy any more earning tax at each transaction for the state. Before people go off about government debt or spending on services or whatever, they should think about where a large proportion of the world's GDP is actually going, while the other 99% struggles to afford food and shelter.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I’d would think billionaires do not have all that cash hoarded in their bank accounts. It’s mostly in the assets they own. They become little government of their own in a way. Both government and billionaires need to borrow/invest in order to keep the economy growing. The fact that governments spent gazillions and there are still poor citizens around in the West, how come you’re not against governments as much as you’re against billionaires?

In a way I’m more concerned with government spending because billionaires are responsible for their own wealth and future; however, politicians don’t have similar concerns. They can always just spend and kick the problems down the road and expect future taxpayers to pay it back.

What’s worse is that non-elected government agencies have even less accountability. The scariest part is the zombie agency called federal reserves. Who is controlling it and keeping it in check? Swapping out fed chairs is about it.

It’s like Boeing swapping out its CEOs. Boeing still has shareholders and FAA to answer to. Fed reserve answers to… God? That’s be the best case scenario. The bank of all bank is more likely to be Sauron! :p

[MR2 Fan]

Interesting, been seeing more videos of democratic speeches where they're referring to the "Biden Harris administration" more than the "Biden administration"....then again I DON'T know if this is a change or I just wasn't paying as much attention before. My guess is they're hedging their bets and keeping Kamala's name out there.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Kamala is even less appealing to Biden, at least to me. If Dems have to play the race gender card and pick a black woman, Michelle Obama is probably the best bet. However, I’m not sure if she wants to run.

Personally, I love reluctant leaders. If Michelle runs, I wouldn’t mind voting for her.

[Tom Servo]

It's been a while since I've seen a Musk tweet. I see his radicalization is coming along nicely, now that he's calling for executing people who don't support a lawmaker's proposed bill.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:swgxwbir4rrimj57pf75jckf/bafkreiel6nueklko476c5hkzy4rfo7po3xk66wbcz3e7xscsq wexrds7oi@jpeg

[Rare White Ape]

Oh my god, I'm surrounded by gold standard people.

After my last post and subsequent reply, I have a renewed vigour from feeling this all over again :p

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's been a while since I've seen a Musk tweet. I see his radicalization is coming along nicely, now that he's calling for executing people who don't support a lawmaker's proposed bill.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:swgxwbir4rrimj57pf75jckf/bafkreiel6nueklko476c5hkzy4rfo7po3xk66wbcz3e7xscsq wexrds7oi@jpeg

Okay, maybe death penalty is a bit harsh, but whatever punishment, we probably should treat traitors and insurrectionists the same?

Left sees right as insurrectionists and right sees left as traitors, even without death penalties, lives will likely be lost if we get into another civil war anyway.

I wonder how far will the trend of decentralization go? Will USA eventually break up to become just a bunch of SAs?

What will be the reason for Lincoln II to try to save our union?

[mk]

Yup, I've always understood it as unpayable but manageable debt.

As in it should be weighed against other macro indicators such as rates of this and returns of that. And it really depends on the size and current role of the country.

Actually it's very payable, any day.
Fundamental difference against many others is that it's their own currency, both directions.

How many $1T coins are needed.

[MR2 Fan]

UK election results goes left. France election results stays(mostly?) left. Iran goes centrist (not that it means much)...pretty good

[Tom Servo]

Honestly, given the polls, all pretty relieving.

[MR2 Fan]

Back to the U.S., it's funny how much I'm seeing Michelle Obama's name mentioned even though she's never really been big into politics on her own. I think this is the "nice" way of saying people aren't huge fans of Kamala Harris but NOT because she's a black woman, so they bring up Michelle Obama as an alternative.

I'm also not sure about Kamala Harris, however I really haven't focused on her too much either. I bet most voters don't really pay a lot of attention to her either.

[FaultyMario]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR6kAiXXIAES_EF.jpg

ABSOLUTE
CINEMA

[Tom Servo]

Back to the U.S., it's funny how much I'm seeing Michelle Obama's name mentioned even though she's never really been big into politics on her own. I think this is the "nice" way of saying people aren't huge fans of Kamala Harris but NOT because she's a black woman, so they bring up Michelle Obama as an alternative.

I'm also not sure about Kamala Harris, however I really haven't focused on her too much either. I bet most voters don't really pay a lot of attention to her either.

I've got my issues with Harris, mostly because of her anti-truancy stuff back in '06. That said, that was a long time ago. I do appreciate that she refused to back down on her anti-death penalty stance in the face of pressure from Feinstein and Boxer. Overall, I think she's good. It's been a lot of years, but I'm pretty sure I voted for her in the primary.

I think Michelle Obama's name comes up a lot because of Q-folk who like to claim that Obama is gay and she's trans and actually "Big Mike Obama" and come to claim the presidency, and that's obvious insanity, but it's how our media ecosphere works.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Man, you guys are pretty good at prejudging people. Support for Michelle Obama likely means you are a closet white supremacist and a Q folk? Not to mention if one believes in the existence of a central bank, then that dude must be going coocoo? ;)

Anyway, IMHO, Kamala is just a black Hillary, a very ambitious lady. Remember where she sided between the Clinton name and the intern. When push comes to shove, do you really believe she cares about women’s rights? If Trump could beat Hillary, he’ll be able to easily beat Kamala. I really think she has a lower chance than Biden.

As a possible ‘closet white supremacist’, my top favorite is still Bernie Sanders. Michelle Obama is acceptable too. Other than these 2, I’m not sure there’s anyone Dems can get me to vote for them.

My prayer is for God to remove both Biden and/or Trump and help us find better candidates… fingers crossed. I do wish to participate in the coming election, but hopefully we’ll have better choices.

[MR2 Fan]

I've got my issues with Harris, mostly because of her anti-truancy stuff back in '06. That said, that was a long time ago. I do appreciate that she refused to back down on her anti-death penalty stance in the face of pressure from Feinstein and Boxer. Overall, I think she's good. It's been a lot of years, but I'm pretty sure I voted for her in the primary.

I think Michelle Obama's name comes up a lot because of Q-folk who like to claim that Obama is gay and she's trans and actually "Big Mike Obama" and come to claim the presidency, and that's obvious insanity, but it's how our media ecosphere works.

Yeah I've seen the trash on various platforms regarding the Q stuff, but even beyond that it seems news networks are asking among the other possible candidates if Biden steps down...and Michelle Obama is one of them for some reason.

[Tom Servo]

I really think they're only entertaining it because weirdos keep throwing it out there. I've seen no sign that she has any intention of even thinking about it, and the media is being the media.

[Tom Servo]

Sadly, when I think about it, maybe it's just that we don't have a lot of great candidates to put up there so people are like "well, what about the other Obama?"

We're in a weird spot. Left leaning policies are popular. Pro-choice policies are wildly popular, to the point where states like Kansas are voting in favor of it. Yet somehow we don't seem to be able to find a progressive firebrand.

Maybe Beto O'Rourke, but he's got his own issues and it's way too late to try to jam him in there. I don't know why we can't find someone who can articulate this. Part of it is just that Trump is so ungodly shameless that it's hard to be a normal human being and counter him. Almost everyone has a shred of integrity that won't let them stoop to his level but he has no problem plowing into that level and demanding everyone else be there with him. I know it's easier to say "the old days were better" even if they weren't, but man, we just don't seem to bring up much of anything.

That's not to say I don't think the policies are good, it just feels like a Simpsons bit where one person is explaining how all these things will ultimately benefit society and the other is throwing Duff beer cans at him while the crowd cheers. I don't know the answer. I don't know if we've hit the ultimately self-destructing point of this civilization or if there's somewhere to go from here. I do know that the idea that presidents are immune from almost anything they do is a huge step forward into the self-destructing point, so that'll be fun.

[Rare White Ape]

Well one thing is the Republicans have slid further right in the last decade and the Democrats have followed them across the fence into that vacuum to hoover up the lost voters. Now the Democrat party is right-lite and has very similar policies.

The answer I think is to let them both continue even further right and let a new left wing party to rise up and fill the void that is opening up on the other side. Sadly it could be a 10 year process unless the Democrats realise what's happening and shift themselves back to the centre-left again.

[mk]

So king Joe orders SCOTUS judges killed and then fills in the change.
If congress objects orders congress members killed.
And...
And finally orders SCOTUS to pull back all king decisions.

Seems to be a busy year.

[MR2 Fan]

Well one thing is the Republicans have slid further right in the last decade and the Democrats have followed them across the fence into that vacuum to hoover up the lost voters. Now the Democrat party is right-lite and has very similar policies.

The answer I think is to let them both continue even further right and let a new left wing party to rise up and fill the void that is opening up on the other side. Sadly it could be a 10 year process unless the Democrats realise what's happening and shift themselves back to the centre-left again.

The people in charge of the Democratic party are always scared to push left thinking it will alienate their major voting base...aka older voters I think. Time and time again, left leaning policies are shown to be popular, but they're very reluctant to nationalize those platforms. Roe v Wade being overturned possibly made them change their mind a bit on how far left they can go.

So what will probably happen, let's say we continue to have a democrat as president and let's say we pick up 10% more seats overall in congress...the lesson they'll take from that is...."keep doing what we're doing, no need to change". If they don't win much "oh we need to move further right".

The news media keeps shifting further right and that doesn't help.

[Crazed_Insanity]

The problem with democratic establishment is that they have no back bone or no core message. Historically, the main thing they have running on is that they are the 'lesser of the 2 evils'!

A country doesn't need a lesser of 2 evils. Just give us a good leader please.

Obama, regardless of his skin color, looked real good! That's how he was able to break out and rise so quickly to the top! Remember he also ran as an early anti-establishment candidate against the more 'established' Hillary. It was so exciting voting for him. He's like the best Bernie Sanders we can have... until in the end, he seems pretty much the same as W foreign policy-wise. Also was not very transparent administration. The fact that he endorsed Hillary in the end and plotted against Bernie Sanders proves that he's not really anti-establishment. He just wanted power and would say and do anything to get there. I voted for you because I believe you are better than Hillary in the primary, but after 8 years, you're telling me we need to go back to Hillary? Why should we go backwards? Just because we should give woman a chance? Then why did you run against her? Had Obama appear after 8 years of Hillary, I'm sure Obama could easily defeated Trump.

Anyway, that's the problem with Dems. They just want to win... but after they win, will they really take care of the American people? Hey, they're only less evil, they never promised they'll be good. :p

Think of Boeing CEOs and board of directors. Majority of Dems are just like them. They don't care about making anything great. At least Donald Trump is selling that he'll make America great again. Boeing senior management moved from Seattle, away from the engineers and workers, and moved closer and closer to DC, with the politicians... the center of power and money and corruption...

Until we get a leader who truly cares about making airplanes... or about the lives of average Americans... things will probably only going to get worse before it gets better.

Personal conspiracy here... I still believe deep down Obama is a good person, but perhaps 'somebody' twisted his arms to do things similar to W admin. Maybe he couldn't do what he really wanted in order to protect himself and his family? Didn't want to end up like Kennedy? If this is true, then of course no way will Michelle ever run for that office. Now, if what happened was all because of character flaws of Barack himself..., then perhaps if Mrs. Obama were pushed to the spotlight, maybe she'll be able to fix things her husband screwed up? At least I don't believe Michelle is the kind of wife who'd always do what her husband said! ;) Anyway, point is, if she runs, I'd vote for her. Unless Bernie is running, then of course I'll go for him. :p

[Tom Servo]

The people in charge of the Democratic party are always scared to push left thinking it will alienate their major voting base...aka older voters I think. Time and time again, left leaning policies are shown to be popular, but they're very reluctant to nationalize those platforms. Roe v Wade being overturned possibly made them change their mind a bit on how far left they can go.

On a local level, our left-leaning city council who like to talk about environmentalism are all afraid of doing anything that might anger drivers, so we never get any infrastructure for public transit or biking, despite the fact that a recent bill attempting to force them to do the things they said they'd do ten years ago won by a nearly 2-1 margin. Like...I dunno what other kinda mandate you need to know that it's wildly popular, so stop listening to the loud minority that keep yelling about things.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Are you sure it’s just the loud minority and not the rich ‘donority’?

It’s always easier to blame the political opposition… both parties play the same damn trick.

When it’s wildly popular with their base and yet they don’t do it, then clearly there are other forces at work. I dunno, maybe it’s just a conspiracy. Maybe they’re just afraid of loud minorities because of their sensitive ear drums?

[21Kid]

Sadly, when I think about it, maybe it's just that we don't have a lot of great candidates to put up there so people are like "well, what about the other Obama?"

We're in a weird spot. Left leaning policies are popular. Pro-choice policies are wildly popular, to the point where states like Kansas are voting in favor of it. Yet somehow we don't seem to be able to find a progressive firebrand.

...Agreed. I've been seeing a lot of Pete Buttigieg killing it lately. He's very good a responding aggressively without sounding upset. He's always prepared with a response to the crazy Republican questions like "EVs catch fire and explode!" or "but the government is buying all the EVs, inflating their numbers!"

[Tom Servo]

I've been a big fan of Buttigieg, but for whatever reason he doesn't seem to be coming up a lot in the conversation, which is a bummer.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I also loved Mayor Pete at 1st and thought he might be the next Bernie Sander and be our 1st gay president.

However, later on I learned that he’s nothing like Bernie. I was fooled by his supposed grassroot support, kid Pete also wrote an essay about his idol, Bernie Sanders! However, turned out he had a lot of ‘established’ support and clearly forgotten about his childhood idol. Decided to gang up with Biden to put away Bernie during the primaries…

I still think he’s a decent person, but if a guy could flip and abandon his childhood ideal and his own personal ambition for a position of transportation secretary, what else will he compromise?

Kamala at least dropped out herself early enough, for those near the end who ganged up with Biden against Bernie last time, I’d never vote for them. Bunch of loser weasels.

I think he was 2nd right behind Bernie. He should've either continue to sell himself as the younger better version of Bernie all the way to the end... or drop out to endorse Bernie... I would've respected him more that way and surely I will vote for him next time. However, as it is, once you've already seen a person's character, why bother wasting your vote on such a person?

Anyway, for those of you who still think Hillary would be lovely to have as president... or the Obama years were just so perfect for us and for the world... then I suppose Pete may be the perfect guy for you. You will surely get the same or very similar things.

Just be prepared for more wars and more Assanges and Snowdens and more unsolved unknowable conspiracies... and then there'll be someone even crazier than Trump coming along to try to balance things out...

It's kinda sad that I still haven't found the next Bernie Sanders... and the dude is already old and probably will be dead in a few years... :(

On the right, I kinda find Vivek interesting. Still observing him like I was observing Andrew Yang... Andrew Yang turned out disappointing. Vivek might end up the same... Don't really have too high of expectations for him... we'll see.

[21Kid]

#Pete4Prez

[Crazed_Insanity]

Back to Elno related news, lawyers who sued Elon for his $56 billion pay package, demanded their fairshare of $7 billion legal fees. That's about $370,000/hr rate for each of the 37 lawyers working around the clock to help fight justice. There were a total of 3 law firms, which spent like 6 hours fighting over how much each of them represented the guy who owns like 9 shares of Tesla stock. Yep, he was unhappy with Elno turning his 9 shares over 10X their original value back when he bought in 2018. (I bought mine at around the same time as well... and even with the current slump, Elno has 10x my money.)

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/09/investing/elon-musk-tesla-legal-fees/index.html

I'd expect this is from somebody who bought Tesla at the peak and then lost money, but nope. This guy obviously made a lot of money out of his 9 shares. It's also funny that these lawyers are suing Elno on the basis of him making too much money selling EVs. Yet, billing $370,000/hr for a pro BS case seems totally reasonable to them. What a fucking joke!

I'm a little lost as to why these blue states are going all out to chasing Elno away. Elno voted for Biden last time too. But CA and Delaware don't want Elno's money I guess. Pushing Elno to the red part of country is a good idea? Why? You'd think politicians would love money? Guess not.

This is why I think it's likely because Elno is perceived as a threat to the Central bank somehow... the old money folks do not like this new money Elno guy for some reason. We'll see how things play out...

[Crazed_Insanity]

Jon Stewart for President!


https://youtu.be/S9LZXheHddI?si=IMI_g9Ws824QSu2h

[FaultyMario]

Do not forget that the state of Israel is carrying out a campaign of ethnic displacement and that it is using methods of terror to achieve it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbhQAJEZkTM

[MR2 Fan]

Sadly I don't think the policy toward Israel/Gaza in the U.S. would change no matter who is president

[Tom Servo]

You're not wrong there. There are a lot of people who are rightfully upset about the way the Biden administration is handling things with Israeli and Gaza, but Trump is basically running around saying that Israeli should do the whole "glass parking lot" thing to Gaza. He's literally said he'd go even farther towards the Israeli side and would be 100% shameless about it.

[Crazed_Insanity]

No question Trump will be pro-Israel.

However, so far the only thing I like about Trump was his foreign war/anti-war policies.

Yes, he can sound fucking ridiculously crazy... threaten to bomb Moscow. However, I'm pretty sure if Trump was in charge, Ukraine would not be invaded.

The problem with our current crop of usual presidents is that we'll continue to have the same damn forever wars regardless if it's W or Obama or Biden... at least Trump has been the only modern president to buck that trend.

I don't know what Trump will really do, if he can convince me that he will really broker peace in Ukraine and Gaza, I will definitely give him my vote.

For now, I think it's clear that we'll have status quo if Biden or Kamala or whoever else in line wins.

Trump definitely won't maintain status quo. Will that be better or worse? I can't say... ;)

Back to Michelle Obama... I think if she's somehow the president, she'll probably not maintain status quo of having forever wars either.

Any other more 'established' politicians regardless of party affiliation, surely they'll be happy with forever wars to enrich their donors. Not to mention winning subsequent construction contracts and bank loans for the rebuilding effort. Easy way to launder money too... maybe even outright steal taxpayer's money. I still cannot understand how DoD can just not do it's accounting properly and we continue to fund them...

We're all so focused on how insanely much amount of money Elno was making. We ought to stop Elon!!!! He is so annoying and evil!!!

[MR2 Fan]

The Biden dropping out vs. not dropping out argument isn't going away and might not until the official nomination. Now more people like George Clooney who JUST had a fundraiser for him is saying for him to step down which is weird.

One video I saw on twitter and wish I could find again mentioned that if he decides to step aside, it could be very difficult and costly to make changes to the ballot and delegates. I don't know details on that though....and it's still not the convention yet which is the final deciding factor (assuming they don't officially state it beforehand because one state...Ohio? I believe was trying to claim that they had to announce the candidate officially to be on the ballot PRIOR to the convention date)

Also, let's say he steps down right now from running, does that mean if he's not cognitively sound, that he should also resign as president now if it's that bad? or if he's just stepping down...in case he gets worse after his next term starts?

It's such a messy situation all around.

[Crazed_Insanity]

CNN is no longer backing Biden it appears… lots of calls for him to step down including publishing that George Clooney piece…

It appears even the ‘establishment’ is concerned about the condition of their puppet candidate.

Of course the so called ‘establishment’ isn’t just a single dictator, but probably a big conglomerate of entities… obvious it’s fracturing and some supports Biden and some are not… hard to say which side will win out.

I think the main issue is that do they really have a suitable replacement?

Pretty sure they wouldn’t want Michelle Obama nor does she really want the job. Any of the more progressive folks possibly making the list and eventual nod? I’d highly doubt that. So of all of the possible status quo folks, who has more appeal than Biden? At least I don’t know of anyone in their pipeline that’d have my vote. Unless they discover a new Obama?

[MR2 Fan]

So there's the next question...do they pick Harris...a black woman....or jump past her to pick another old white guy? THAT would also be a very tough situation.

I would HAPPILY be wrong and hope that all people who would vote for Biden would also vote for Harris...I just don't believe it.

[FaultyMario]

shouldn't the election be made by citizens in a democracy?

[Cam]

:lol:

[Cam]

:(

[Crazed_Insanity]

Deep down we all know we can only pick from the folks they picked for us.

From a more palatable point of view, people have to actually want to and declare their candidacy. We can’t just randomly pick MR2 for president. He wants to go to Japan soon. Plus, lots of people don’t want the thankless job.

[MR2 Fan]

democracy where 1 person = 1 vote for President instead of up to 1 person = 4 votes for President depending entirely on where you live.

[sandydandy]

I've heard RFK Jr's name thrown around as a possible replacement for Biden. That wouldn't be a bad idea given the prestige behind the Kennedy name. I have no idea about his politics.

[Rare White Ape]

I've heard RFK Jr's name thrown around as a possible replacement for Biden. That wouldn't be a bad idea given the prestige behind the Kennedy name. I have no idea about his politics.

He's an absolute fucking nut job.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Kennedy family doesn’t even back him. I was neutral about him before, but Swervo has convinced me that he might be a closet white supremacist. Anyway, if your own family won’t back you up, no reason why I should vote for you.

[sandydandy]

He's an absolute fucking nut job. I didn't know that...but maybe it's a good thing. Counter a Republican nut job with a Democrat one.

[MR2 Fan]

RFK Jr. also has brain worms...no I'm not joking

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, besides the possible white supremacy ties, that brain worm incident certainly didn't help. I don't have an issue with the brain worm itself, but the fact that he used that as an excuse to get out of paying alimony. He himself was claiming at the time that the brain/cognitive defect would reduce his income potential... so he can't pay all that alimony...

Now he's all physically fit! Whoopee!!!

I'm okay with a certain mental handicap, but he obviously also has integrity issues. If he can't take care of his ex-wife, imagine how many Americans he doesn't like he might leave behind as president...

The guy was up to 20% in the polls at one time, but now at 10%.

Anyway, even if it's RFK jr. vs Trump, I will still abstain from voting.

[Rare White Ape]

I didn't know that...but maybe it's a good thing. Counter a Republican nut job with a Democrat one.

Nah he’s a Republican in Democrat clothing. He’s been on a campaign platform on the left to try and get the Democrat nomination but there’s nothing left wing about him at all.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Well, Trump the New Yorker is actually a democrat in Republican clothing... so it's perfect! :p

Anyway, we need somebody better than those 2 or 3...

I think my dream match up would be Bernie vs Vivek. In such a match up, I'd vote Bernie. If it's Vivek vs Kamala or whatever whatever DNC approved candidate, then I'd go for Vivek. Whether left or right, I'm anti-establishment... or anti-status quo. We simply cannot continue on our current trajectory.

If only Trump could have a bit more integrity, I'd vote for him. For now, I can't in good conscience vote for a guy who mistreats kitty cats. That crossed the line! :p

[MR2 Fan]

ok, Biden's press conference was..........good....mostly. He flubbed twice today, first time he caught himself, second time he didn't...but he's always done this. His foreign policy stuff was great.

Other issues, he still has a cough, he's still slow and unclear, but I do believe he is not suffering any new mental issues. Unfortunately the only thing we'll hear is the two names he flubbed in the media.