Politics

[Tom Servo]

Oh, c'mon, Mo. Mass shootings are so common in the US now that we don't even bother posting to the mass shooting thread. That ship sailed with Bernie on it, did a couple of rounds of the Atlantic, was retired as a ship, turned into a museum, and now is somewhere where you can get a good corndog.

[mk]

Anytime there is a mass shooting, remember, Bernie FUCKING Sanders is the reason why we can't hold gun manufacturers accountable.

Remember also that every time a thick blue wall can change things.
Though seems that for now a new whip is closer.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Anytime there is a mass shooting, remember, Bernie FUCKING Sanders is the reason why we can't hold gun manufacturers accountable.

How about let’s try to remember the good things Biden/Harris has done for the past 4 years? What are their signature moves that made our nation so much better? Why we absolutely need them for the next 4 years?

With regard to gun control, I do believe Vance was pretty lame to say that we ought to just accept school shootings as realities of life. Sure, for us average Americans, what else can we do except to just accept this reality? It's all Bernie Sander's fault, right? If only that old old man kicks the bucket, surely we won't have any gun problems..., but still, as someone in leadership position, that's the best you can do? Allow American kids to just accept that? That for sure made me want to vote for Kamala more.

[Crazed_Insanity]

More relevant to our current election cycle... had some political chat with some new friends we've met at the PNW area... and this guy was retired from the army recently. He's not overtly a Trump supporter like my next door neighbor, but after some digging, he's clearly also a Trump supporter. He sounded pretty much like Tulsi Gabbard. He had been deployed to the various battlefields... and was saying that in 'forever wars', they had no clear objective. Required very lengthy timeframe to get whatever authorization to act. Clearly their objective wasn't to win a war. Enemies in Iraq always have time to get re-supplies or re-enforcements from Iran... or in Afganistan, they always had Pakistani support. The difference with Trump was that they were allowed to actually win! That's how they're able to defeat ISIS.

Anyway, not sure if he holds the majority view in the military? However, my suspicion is that most military are conservatives... and most likely more incline to support Trump rather than the Republican establishment. I think he just thinks that our government is now too corrupt and he's glad that he's outta there considering how unstable it is around the world now...

Lastly, I didn't ask him what he'd do if Trump becomes a dictator, but my guess would be that people like him and Tulsi for sure won't actually support a dictator. They just think our current government is corrupt and hopeful of Trump cleaning things up... I doubt they'd support Trump to be a dictator.

Anyway, I still really don't have a personal preference yet... I just pray and hope whoever won will really help lead America to a better place. The coming debate should be interesting. Trump is getting old and rambling more... Kamala also has a tendency to ramble on with her word salad whenever going off script... so the upcoming debate should be fun to watch.

[FaultyMario]

Oh, yeah! I remember!

Bernie is the sole reason why Obama's supermajority was only able to pass a lukewarm healthcare reform. When the people were rioting for new regulatory frameworks for immigration, finance and labor, it was Sanders who brought it all down.

[Crazed_Insanity]

What a bad bad man! Rigged the 2020 primary too! Nearly eliminated Biden and Kamala! Good thing voters are smarter than Bernie’s scheme and we now have the proper candidates in the WH! Whew!

I’d think Neanderthal would be happy about the final outcome, but somehow he’s still bitter about that loser old man ruining the country… it’s okay now dude! Your enemy should be Trump, not Bernie! Threat to our democracy should be the orange old man, right?

Fortunately I don’t see Biden blaming Sanders about mass shootings. That really makes no sense.

[Tom Servo]

Earlier, one of our esteemed friends was pondering why it would be that people like Elon Musk have gravitated towards Trump. The supposition was that it must be something bad about the democrats that drove him away.

He just spent most of today claiming that Haitian immigrants will eat your pets. A racist trope that's at *least* a century old and has been applied to many different non-white groups, including people from Asia.

It's simple. Apartheid boy is super happy that he gets to talk shit about black people and the MAGA folks applaud him for it instead of telling him to go fuck himself. It's not that the democrats drove him away, it's that MAGA welcomed his most base racist reflexes with open arms. End of story.

[dodint]

What rock did you find Andy Richter underneath?

[Tom Servo]

I've followed him for a while now on bluesky/twitter.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Elno is definitely not perfect, but I think if we were to compare his more established companies against GM and Boeing… then I think we can see the differences between companies cozy with the ‘establishment’ and his companies?

I wouldn’t call his companies more conservative nor to the right…, but I do believe GM and Boeing are getting too big and too inefficient.

Do you think our government is being run more like Boeing or SpaceX? Would it be horrible if our government is reformed to run more like SpaceX?

I personally would prefer Elon stays in the private sector building stuffs rather the politics… plus, considering most who had worked for Trump soured on their relationships, Elon would be dumb to be part of Trump admin…

But to answer your question, I tend to think Elon was pushed! Yeah, his big politically incorrect mouth/tweets are probably what started the push? But seriously, I think the left has moved more to the left or to some weird place too. Boeing, at least, has over the years moved out of Seattle and was inching closer and closer to Sauron! New CEO has pledge to move senior management back to Seattle, hopefully Boeing will finally be heading in the right direction.

Besides worrying about Elon, is the Democratic party really moving in the right direction? Maybe if we could try to avoid party talks then we'll be able to see with better clarity? So you think our government in general is heading toward the right direction?

[MR2 Fan]

Oh shit it's over. Taylor Swift endorsed Harris officially

[neanderthal]

Missed the debate because I was at rugby practice. Good news about Taylor Swift though.

[Leon]

So who had:
Immigrants eating pets
and
Post birth abortions

On their "Billi's buddy" list?

[sandydandy]

A lot of Kamala’s talking points were similar to Biden in the first debate, except he lacked the energy to verbalize it the way he wanted to because of his frailty. No such problem here.

She had Trump on the ropes in the healthcare part of the debate to the point where he was retreating.

Overall Kamala was stronger and Trump didn’t really say anything of substance outside of twatish comments for shock and entertainment value.


So who had:
Immigrants eating pets
and
Post birth abortions

On their "Billi's buddy" list? Immigrants eating pets is a new one. Reminds me of what the far-right is doing in Canada with Indians shitting on beaches. There’s a word for post birth abortion - it’s called murder, which I am certain is illegal in 100% of the country.

He’s a fucking joke.

[Tom Servo]

I'd heard a lot of people saying that all Trump really had to do was control himself and remain composed and he'd do fine.

I think he made it maybe 10 minutes before that was all out the window. One thing that's interesting is I think most of the world is like Leon. People like me who are terminally online and keep an eye on the weirdest fringe parts of the ultra-right already knew about the claims of pet eating and post-birth abortions, that second one they've been repeating for years now. But most of the world isn't like that, and they saw his performance last night and probably are wondering what the fuck is wrong with him. I really think retreating to Truth Social and his echo chamber has just caused him to fall further and further into the fringe because over there, the more bonkers he goes the more they love him.

Also, speaking of the fringe, as much as Billi likes to say he's a liberal he's a pretty reliable source as to what the fringe is claiming. He'll often repeat their claims here as facts (like the recent Tulsi Gabbard thing). I'm guessing partially because the town he's moved to is a lot like where my mother-in-law lives and that sort of fringe Trump supporter is pretty commonplace, so those things become part of normal conversation there. Much like vaccines being deadly or the earth being flat.

And yeah, that thing about Haitians supposedly eating your pets came out a couple of days ago. JD Vance claims that he's gotten reports of this, though the police there say they have zero reports. It feels a little strange that you'd complain to your state senator but not to the cops, but hey, Trump saw people on TV so it must be true. Elon Musk has had a huge part in spreading that racist trope as well. It's a trope that's well over one hundred years old and gets applied to pretty much every non-white immigrant population at some point. Vance seems to be positioning spreading the rumor as returning the couch-fucking favor, only he doesn't get the difference between making fun of a public figure and potentially inciting violence against an entire group of people.

That "we're not racist" mask was never fully on, but it's completely off now.

[Rare White Ape]

Trump has always shown his cards. And if people thought he'd be able to act 'decently' then they were deluded.

But it won't affect his chances at all. He could say some of the most heinously racist or misogynistic shit about Harris and he will still get the same amount of votes.

Meanwhile, Democrat voters will be sent into a frenzy of condemnation about his decorum and not move the goalposts one bit.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Trump as a New Yorker, do you think he was originally a what?

Musk started out in CA, do you really think he has conservative leanings?

I think it should be clear that for one reason or another, whether pushed or out of their own free will, they both moved from a blue state to another red state.

Also, to me, racism would be about being treated badly simply by the color of your skin. Whether that's during a traffic stop or trying to gain employment, but don't you guys think "everything" is now beginning to look a lot like racism lately as long as it's politically convenient?

Chinese people eating wild animals and buy them from wet markets... if that caused a world wide pandemic, it's not racist to believe that. However, if it's a lab leaked virus... now all of a sudden it becomes racist? Can you really explain why?

These are all political BS IMHO.

Anyway, I think Kamala performed better than I thought during the debate. Trump is just being his usual self... except he really looks older now... and tend to ramble on like old people. On TV, that certainly doesn't look good. He could easily beat Biden on looks, but no anymore...

On a personal level, the debate also didn't quite move the needle for me. I'm still not really more inclined to vote for either. If Kamala wins, of course it'll be continuation of status quo. If Trump wins, I tend to believe he'll actually make the world safer and more peaceful. I think other dictators/terrorists for sure are more afraid of crazy Trump than Kamala/Biden. However, at home, things will likely be more messed up. We'll probably see a lot of angry Kyles shooting up lots of white guys who supports BLM.

White people really need to figure this out amongst themselves.

All I can tell you is that my white MAGA neighbor doesn't not mistreat me in any way... knowing that I'm not white and I'm from LA.

People really need to stop being so angry. Pretty sure it won't be the end of the world if either one is elected. I'm 'okay' with either candidates as president, but I really have no motivation to vote for either. Both kinda suck in their own way.

The weakest Trump part during to debate for me was his defense about getting rid of Obamacare..., but he has no freaking better alternative. Now that's lame. However, both sides are playing the similar game. Just blame the other side for all our problems, but who has the better solution?

I think I just don't trust both candidates. Considering most who's worked closely for Trump typically split up very badly... also considering Kamala's policies could often change depending on whichever way the wind blows... I seriously don't understand why Americans are trying to kill each other over these two...

[neanderthal]

Kamala should've started every response with "I guess he's not going to answer, because he doesn't have any idea of what to do about (subject.) Well, here is what I intend to do (elaborates.)"

[JoeW]

Honestly if we can just get past this ReTrumpican era things will get back to normal. This election will be the last time we have to deal with him. Then we can get back to somewhat respectable humans on both sides who can talk about their platform, policies, plans etc. Like in the old pre Trump days.

[FaultyMario]

Cough-cough.



An interesting wrinkle with the scenario of Biden stepping down is if the Democrats can prop up a good enough candidate to beat Trump this fall, they won't be subject to term limits in 2028 and would be the incumbent firmly in place to prevent a 2028 MAGA candidate.If that is the case, and now that the GOP internal structure has been firmly replaced by MAGAs and, say, that sanity is somewhat restored and reforms like those mentioned by Tom are passed, how do the institutional Republicans get their party back?

I've said elsewhere on this thread, but there are signs that elements in the U.S. electoral system are useless now, so it'll be interesting to see if they can be reformed or if something else comes along and takes its place.

[Crazed_Insanity]

If Trump loses again and survives another assassination attempt, there’s probably a good chance he will try to MAGAgain! So in a way I kinda wish he could win to get it over with…

GOP has been forever screwed thanks to Trump. As long as Trump can run again, I don’t foresee anyone who could beat Trump during the primaries…

Personally I like Trump more than W because at least Trump never started a bogus war. Do you guys really would prefer W over Trump?

[FaultyMario]

"Trump never started a war", is like, the worst. joke. ever.

[Crazed_Insanity]

No forever wars at least during his 4 years.

Biden didn’t start anything either, however, he involved America actively in 2 forever wars.

Not saying we absolutely should have no wars, but if we are involved, we need to have winning as an objective. If we can’t win, then we need to know when we should cut our loss… America has been involved in way too many forever wars…

[Tom Servo]

*cough* Afghanistan *cough*.

You are aware that that lasted through all of Trump's presidency and despite claiming he was going to end it, he didn't actually do that, right? That was a 20 year conflict.

And he bombed Syria. That's a 12 year conflict.

Oh, and Yemen. That's a 20 year conflict.

And intervention in the Somali civil war. Another 20 year conflict.

And Niger. Hey, that was only a 12 year conflict.

And ISIS/Iraq. Also a 12 year conflict.

Of those, Trump didn't actually stop any of them. I think it's fair to say he didn't start any wars, but depending on your definition of a forever war (and those are basically all the ones that we are still involved in, so that pretty much covers the gamut), he didn't actually end any of them either. It's arguably pretty janky, we're talking about supporting a bunch of shipping companies, but at the same time, it's not like it was unilateral.

FWIW, One conflict has started under Joe Biden, Operation Prosperity Guardian, a joint effort between the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Bahrain, Singapore, and Sri Lanka to defend cargo vessels in the Red Sea from the Houthi movement in Yemen.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Ukraine and Gaza wars for sure were not started by Biden, but Biden is either unable to or u willing to help win those wars, yet he kept supplying weapons to sustain unwinnable wars. That’s essentially forever wars. If Trump were in office, I don’t believe those wars would happen.

Dude was in office for 4 years and gets credit for a 20 yr conflict?!?!?

If we can chart a number of American bullets and bombs set off around the world, I’d bet Trump used up the least during his 4 years.

That is the ONLY thing I like about Trump. Initially, I liked nothing about him and was also scared that he might destroyed the world… but in retrospect, I do believe he is the most peaceful US president. Instead of meddling abroad, he just meddles around at home. So if he wins the election, it should be good for the rest of the world. :p

[Tom Servo]

Lol, Trump is good because he didn't start new wars, Biden is bad because he didn't start new wars. Got it.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Forever wars. If you want to deliberately play dumb, I suppose you have the right to play that. Yeah, you might as well blame the guy in office for 4 years with a conflict that preceded him for 15 years!

Forever wars are bad! They drag on for no reason other than allowing arms dealer to profit more… hopefully the money we make can help pay for our deficit at least…

[Tom Servo]

I didn't blame him for the forever wars, but he didn't *stop any of them.* Biden didn't *start* any of them, unless you blame him for Russia's and Hamas' actions, which last time I checked, he wasn't in charge of.

You, of all people, should not accuse anyone of playing dumb.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Putin invaded when Obama was in charge… and again when Biden is in charge. Why didn’t he invade while the Russian asset was in charge?

I suppose nobody knows the real reason, but that is fact. Maybe Trump was just lucky. Maybe Putin was happy Trump threatened to dismantle NATO?

We also didn’t see Trump Jr. in Ukraine planning casinos and golf courses… but Hunter was there! We shouldn’t be flirting with Ukraine like that. Either let them join NATO and be ready to defend them… or not! Why mess with Putin like that?

Like I said, Biden is either unwilling or unable to negotiate peace/win a war… I think Trump could do a better job, at least based on his 4 years record.

Of course even if he wins another 4 years and gave us relative peace during that time, surely President Newsom will return us to forever war mode again…

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yesterday there was a round table meeting with a fairly senior level manager just chatting with folks in our group... one unavoidable topic was our company's dire financial situation. The analogy is like this: imagine at your household that you've maxed out all of our creditcards... so you really couldn't borrow anymore money. Yet, you are on the verge of credit rating downgrade due to various reasons... that means your currently paying 18.99% interest on all of your debt will suddenly become paying 39.99%...

Of course there are also brighter sides... such as repair business! Commercial planes are getting old! We can make big bucks fixing them... not only that, if there's a military conflict in the Pacific Rim region, we'll have to be able to repair our military planes faster because China simply has more planes I guess?

Anyway, so moral of the story is that my current employer is obviously part of the 'establishment'. As establishment candidates win, I suppose that's better job security for me. However, I really also wish my employer can be more like SpaceX though.

I really think Trump's only positive is to give us a relatively safer world. Of course clearly you guys disagree, but whatever. We should be used to having different realities in this day and age. I also like the fact that Trump destroyed the Republican establishment. However, it's kinda like he wishes to destroy Obamacare... believing that it sucks... Okay, so it sucks... let's get rid of it. Now that it's gone, then what? Do you really have a plan? Considering that most who've worked closely with you don't want to work with you ever again and would often even testify against you... Trump for sure doesn't inspire confidence.

So in a way I'm fine with status quo too. It's good for my employer... and good for my own bottomline. I think it sucks, but I don't know what else to do either. Only thing I can do is to look after my own bottomline. I can only do my job the best I can and hope the new CEO and future new president can turn things around? Otherwise America will likely never ever be great again... what’s happening to my employer is happening to America. We have to do something, but unless Trump truly becomes born again, I just don’t think we can expect much from this election cycle…, regardless who won.

[MR2 Fan]

Jesus F-ing $DEITY the whole city!?!?! :lol:

https://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=4334&d=1726181040

4334

[Kchrpm]

The Rams left and won a Super Bowl and they lost their damn minds.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I never paid much attention to Eric Weinstein because I had always just associated him to his relative Harvey... :p

What do you guys think about Eric? Supposedly he's also a lifetime democrat, never voted Republican... and I find myself agreeing with a lot of what he's saying...


https://youtu.be/Trrp-tgKvR0?si=_FeDEYmi5Wmq8Lna

What I called the 'establishment', I think he calls it the 'international order'. He predicted Biden would be replaced back in February, he's now also saying Trump won't be allowed to be president again... I suppose that's why the assassination attempt. All that is because this 'international order' wants to protect itself... it can't have a crazy president that comes in place to disrupt treaties and financial markets and stuff like that. So it pre-selects pre-approve presidential candidates.

I guess Trump has been an anomaly that hacked their system back in 2016. They'll determine to not let that happen again. Now, replacing the puppet Biden is much easier feat. However, they will try very hard to make sure Trump won't be the next president.

Eric isn't sure what he'll do come November. There are 4 options for all voters... besides picking one of the 2... we could just abstain or vote for an irrelevant 3rd party candidate. None of those options will be great... at least from my perpective...

However, back to that crazy Christian prophet who predicted Trump assassination, I'm beginning to think his prophecy might be true. Trump will win... and he'll likely break the 'international order' and cause a huge recession!

As bad as that's gonna be, it'll be like a huge forest fire... hopefully a new and better world will eventually emerge...

Or we can maintain status quo. I'll roll with the punches...

I think I'll abstain from voting this time. You guys can decide your own fate. I'll do my best take care of my family and make this world a better place either way...

May God bless America! :)

And may the Gospel continue on going in the westward direction and be spread to China eventually too! I'm praying for you and your children's children brother YW! :p

Sorry for involving religion again..., but at least that Eric guy is an atheist. Regardless of whether if Jesus exists, I do want the best for America... and China!

[FaultyMario]

I've read that A.I. is a waste of the planet's energy.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GXZWBr8XoAAnLBQ.png

And it's OK.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I listened to more of some Eric Weinstein commentary and learned something interesting… which is the emergence of ‘anti-interesting’ stuffs!

Subjects that are ‘anti-interesting’ are not the same as uninteresting, it’s just that for whatever reasons, they’re discouraged to be talked about further for one reason or another. Jeff Epstein is one example. We know he’s a failed financier, but nobody really has a clue how he made his money! No investigative reporters are able to dig up anything either. Covid origins probably also something similar. No way to find the real truth because we just can’t dig any deeper. Any attempts to try to dig deeper will result in you being called a crazy conspiracy theorist or racist or worse cases would be prosecution like Assange or exile like Snowden?

People like Trump, Musk, Joe Rogan are obviously flawed people, but these folks pose a significant threat… because they’re not the type who’d shut up about ‘anti-interesting topics’ and they are some what difficult to get rid off easily… so the battle continues…

I really think it’s no longer right vs left… seriously, how leftist are most of you guys really? Most of you are not willing to go as far left with Bernie, right? On the ‘right’ as well, how far right are Trump and Musk really? If the divide between left and right is really that great, there’s no way Cheney would endorse Kamala!

So anyway, this ‘battle’ will likely end with folks like Trump and Musk eventually locked away or destroyed for good… or this ‘international Tower of Babel’ will come crashing down…

[Yw-slayer]

Today I learnt that Billi's Best Bros are seeking to pass a End Chinese Dominance of Electric Vehicles in America Act. Lolllllllllllllllllllllllll

[FaultyMario]

You have been warned.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GXfZuzjWIAA-oIH.jpg

[Crazed_Insanity]

Eric Weinstein has warned about this too… they’ll likely keep trying before the November election until they succeed in getting rid of Trump. Assassination definitely can be a big blow not only to him, but also to the nation…

It is rather amazing all the character and physical assassinations still don’t quite seem to work yet. Looks like ‘they’ are not very good… ;)

[edit] 1st assassin kid seemed to be a MAGA type... now the 2nd assassin is upset with what happened at Ukraine..., yet somehow decided to take it out on Trump who was not a president at the time... and still isn't a president... what good would it be to kill him? His death would somehow end the war in Ukraine? Also, why now? Why not earlier so that GOP can have their primary? Anyway, at least the guy is alive and we can question him further... unless he ends up killing himself in prison like Epstein... What kind of weird world are we living in where nothing makes sense...

There's definitely a threat to our democracy... and it's not just coming from Trump.

[Tom Servo]

Ugh, Milo.

The really tough part is apparently Loomer is threatening to sue Bill Maher for defamation after he joked about her having an affair with Trump and I honestly don't know who I want to lose more.

[FaultyMario]

I am here for all the couch jokes however. 😂

Ben Folds recently did a cover of Killing in the name of

(https://x.com/i/status/1835821930886402403)

[MR2 Fan]

I have a stupid question. Why do conservatives hate IVF?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Extreme ideology is likely the answer. IVF could require multiple embryos from the couple... and of course once the mother is successfully impregnated, what are we to do with the rest of the embryos? Pro-life conservative extremists couldn't bear the idea of murdering these babies, yet, they're okay with murdering of Sandy Hook babies... there's nothing we could do about Sandy Hook, but there's something we could do about not killing embryos! Let's just ban that! Yeah! Hopefully with reduced population, we'll have less kids to be shot at at Sandy Hook too? Win win for both sides?

We really should tie abortion rights along with gun rights. If you wish to ban abortion rights, let's go ahead and ban all guns too. Pro-life, right?

Or, if you insist on allowing gun rights, then please let women keep their right to choose too? Pro-choice, right?

We need to be more consistent... more common sense too. I think it's clear no americans are pro-baby killing or pro-government taking away your choice. It's unbelievable we are still at each other's throats about these issues and still making no progress at all...

[Rare White Ape]

I have a stupid question. Why do conservatives hate IVF?

Because clerico-fascists think the only way we should get someone preggerz is to do the dirty.

But clerico-fascists even hate the act of doing the dirty. So, I dunno...

[Tom Servo]

This from the Wall Street Journal. Not only is this rhetoric racist as fuck, it's going to get people killed over Facebook-posted rumors.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jmte4w4x7ukciit6lci6ziau/bafkreia6txyogv4tcc5gjjhtz7tyt4pi7ovuuyxb6x4jmuqoy qhvlqmyry@jpeg

[Crazed_Insanity]

At least there’s a police report about it so it’s not entirely baseless.

Whereas the sofa thing was entirely baseless, but you know how that went…

My suspicion is that Trump will probably be one of those people killed in this crazy world if the trend continues… then that will solve the problem you’re worrying about… NOT!

Something is definitely wrong with our world… All I know is that blaming it on other people won’t solve our problems. We need to focus on the problems in order to solve them!

[Tom Servo]

Someone on Bluesky posted a non paywall link to the article.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-the-trump-campaign-ran-with-rumors-about-pet-eating-migrants-after-being-told-they-weren-t-true/ar-AA1qKCRb

[Tom Servo]

I suppose I could have guessed that someone here would both-sides an obvious joke at a politicians expense and outright lies aimed at not even the people who made the joke that demonize an entire community of vulnerable people and are dangerously close to becoming a pogram...

[Crazed_Insanity]

Demonizing is a problem that happens on 'both sides'.

Hey, they deserve to be demonized! They're deplorable! They're bigots! They're hateful! They're fascist Nazis! They are a threat to democracy! Dems could later on condemn the violences, but it's not stopping the assassination attempts, right?

Trump is definitely using this for political gain, but reality is that Ohio is probably not really in great shape to be absorbing that many Haitian refugees. 20k Haitians in the past 4 years is not a small #. There were probably frustrations brewing already and then this false report ignited a crazy fire!

My point is that I don't think anyone in this election cycle really has the right to accuse the other side about saying dangerous rhetoric because that might end up hurting somebody...

It's an unfortunate thing that occurred. It was a story 'accidentally' made up... at least Trump admin did not fabricate this story out of his ass. They're just looking for stories to advance his own agenda.

I think part of the reason why some Americans like Trump is precisely because he's not afraid to stir up possibly racist shit. Take a look at the recent disgraced Harvard president... she was clearly not qualified to run Harvard, but guess what? People are afraid to speak their mind because... oh I don't want to appear racist and sexist... yeah, make her the president, what could go wrong, right?

Anyway, I'm not so sure this orange old man is qualified to do the job either, but this is our 'democracy'. We are left with the choice of either eat shit or drink pee.

[Tom Servo]

Your point relies on an over-reliance on thinking "I see a similarity between two things, therefore they are equal."

Like, equating the couch-fucking jokes to literally accusing an entire population of killing people's pets is actually an insane take. I'll give you one objective measurement - which one of those two has resulted in 20+ bomb threats, a school shooting threat, and the cancellation of classes/closing of government offices/cancelling an annual arts festival?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Pee and poo are most definitely not equal.

Destruction caused by BLM riots and insurrections are also not really equal.

It's not always about equating shit. I'm also not trying to equalize anything.

Bomb threats, assassinations, mass shootings... shit has been happening for ages.

We can try to blame all that craziness on Trump and the Republicans, but I really think we have a much deeper problem than that. We act as if we could win this next election, our problems would magically disappear... but face it, election outcomes, regardless how they change, won't change anything for this nation.

IMHO, Trump has at least changed a way we conduct wars..., but you seem to disagree. So if we tossed that out, then Trump is just a menace. Danger to the world and danger at home too. Biden has taken over for nearly 4 years now... is our nation and the world in a better place? Bottomline is, nothing will change... actually, things will only get worse regardless who occupies the WH.

[Tom Servo]

Good article on just how nefarious this whole "they're eating the dogs" thing is: https://www.vox.com/politics/372364/trumps-haitians-springfield-ohio-nazi

[MR2 Fan]

So it looks like the GOP are trying to hand North Carolina to Kamala on a silver platter by having the most disgusting gubernatorial candidate imaginable running in the state....:popcorn:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/19/politics/kfile-mark-robinson-black-nazi-pro-slavery-porn-forum/index.html

I realize that governor races don't always translate to presidential races directly but I think this is good.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow! A black white supremacist! A black Nazi… CNN story isn’t a skit from Dave Chappell? :lol:

[MR2 Fan]

Parody is dead, reality is too crazy now

[Crazed_Insanity]

I don't know what to think of this crazy story.

I think CNN correctly connected the dots of comments from those various platforms to the guy; however, the guy's comment is probably not serious?

Dave Chappell's character was a 'blind' black KKK member so he couldn't see himself in the mirror. How does it make sense for a black man to be a Nazi? It could also be that he's just so upset at our leftist admin that he's over exaggerating that he'd actually prefer a fascist government? Must we take words spoken at heat of passion and on a porn site seriously?

At face value, 'I'm a black Nazi' is a statement that cannot possibly be taken seriously, right? Should people also shout out Black Nazis Matter? Black people have a right to be Nazis!!!!

The Left in NC can feel good about not voting for a Black Nazi. The right in NC would simply ignore CNN fake news and act as if Black Nazi is still better then commies...

I'm glad I don't live in NC! :p

[FaultyMario]

Do CardsAgainstHumanity have any chance of making elno pay (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cards-against-humanity-elon-musk-lawsuit-b2616839.html)?

[Tom Servo]

By what should be legal, probably. Do I think Cards Against Humanity have the funds and lawyers to fight off Musk? Probably not.

[Tom Servo]

Just got served this ad on Elon's Twitter, so things are clearly going great there.

https://i.imgur.com/rwshaIZ.png

[FaultyMario]

I hope white culture dies.

It's been 69 years of pure shit.

Whities stealing off afros, though... build me up another Chicago, puleeease!

[FaultyMario]

Whities stealing off afros, though... build me up another Chicago, puleeease!

Or a new Humbug, whatever!

[Crazed_Insanity]

What is white culture?

[Rare White Ape]

It's been 69 years of pure shit.

I’d say centuries is a more correct time frame.

I don’t mind white culture, after all it’s what I am accustomed to.

I just don’t like white religion or capitalism or politics, both of which have been highly destructive.

[MR2 Fan]

"Where is White? Do they speak English in White?"

Sorry, I always feel like doing a Sam Jackson in Pulp Fiction impersonation whenever the term "white" comes up, because it is such an IMO nebulous term and misused constantly (the same with other "races" as well)

[Crazed_Insanity]

I’d say centuries is a more correct time frame.

I don’t mind white culture, after all it’s what I am accustomed to.

I just don’t like white religion or capitalism or politics, both of which have been highly destructive.

Only problem with white religion and capitalism is caused by flawed human nature. However, this flaw would continue to occur even if we eradicate white religion and capitalism. Humanity is just not perfect. Now the saving grace of white religion and capitalism is that it beat out atheism and communism! Soviet Union collapsed and China adopted capitalism. Unfortunately while China has gotten richer, she has lost her soul in the process.

I do believe the democratic socialist Scandinavian countries probably have the most ideal political balance, but I think they too have lost their souls/meaning in the process…

Don’t get me wrong, Americans are losing their souls too and our political situation is probably worse off than the Scandinavians. We’re just able to compensate better by printing lots of our own money…

[FaultyMario]

i meant that in the context of the separation of culture into the artificial distinction of white culture where supremacist took refuge once their butts where thoroughly kicked in WW2.

And in how whites "created" rock and roll, which was, in essence, the appropriation of black music happening in both Chicago and Hamburg, around that time.

[FaultyMario]

i think that answers rwa's & mr2's comments.

[Crazed_Insanity]

We all know Nazis suck and they deserve to be in hiding, so besides white supremacist crazy culture, what is white culture and what’s wrong with it? Something wrong with Rock & Roll? What must die?

[Rare White Ape]

i think that answers rwa's & mr2's comments.

Well now I’m more confused.

[FaultyMario]

:finger:

[FaultyMario]

anyhow... i don't think the victims will see justice in the Sean Combs case. there's way too many affluent people involved!

[Tom Servo]

Dang, after just about everyone in Eric Adams orbit has gotten snagged in some sort of investigation, now he's been indicted for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for acting in an official capacity after taking donations from foreign sources.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4kcz7hbjb62sectdgv3sg5yv/bafkreid53r6p4lsoouf2b4bafls6dx3rq2cqxjpw6u6yee3my 5pc46gcri@jpeg

[Yw-slayer]

Singapore’s MRT train disruption to enter third day, over 800,000 likely affected
The transport authorities say they aim to partially restore services on Friday and run a regular shuttle train service

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3280036/singapores-train-commuters-flustered-one-longest-mrt-service-disruptions?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/east-west-line-disruption-smrt-faulty-train-timeline-4638131

Man, absolutely ZERO coverage of this on Bloomberg, Washington Post, NYT, The Times, The Guardian, etc. etc. etc. even though the MRT is a vital part of Singaporean public transport and this outage has affected over 400,000 to 500,000 people per day.

Of course, if a major HK MTR line were shutdown for 2 days affecting that many commuters, no doubt Bloomberg's resident Singaporean moron columnist would have churned out "HK exhibiting symptoms of a failed state" and "Death of HK" articles!

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

WONDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Crazed_Insanity]

I think it's probably just not click-bait enough that's all.

Western mainstream media is now busy attacking Trump. Unless the trains were disabled by Trumpian terrorists, there's really no motivation to report that! :p

[Tom Servo]

Yep, still weird.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Dang, after just about everyone in Eric Adams orbit has gotten snagged in some sort of investigation, now he's been indicted for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for acting in an official capacity after taking donations from foreign sources.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4kcz7hbjb62sectdgv3sg5yv/bafkreid53r6p4lsoouf2b4bafls6dx3rq2cqxjpw6u6yee3my 5pc46gcri@jpeg

My Apple news feed is just full of attack articles for Trump. This post was the 1st time I saw something about NY mayor... finally 13 minutes ago, Reuters article saying Addams charged with bribery, illegal campaign contribution finally tops my news feed.

I guess they don't want to make the dems look too bad too quickly...

Maybe it's good for Andrew Yang to not be NY's mayor. He might end up in jail too.

To me, the moral of the story is that political parties are meaningless.

We could banish all republicans and all Trump supporters, but our government can still fuck things up badly.

[Tom Servo]

So a couple of things here.

Your news feed is mostly based on what you consume. I get some weird shit in mine because like one time I looked at an article about trucking regulations and now I regularly get articles about trucking. I posted that thing about Eric Adams last night and had plenty of news about it in my feed. The fact that you didn't see it doesn't mean it wasn't being reported. The take "I guess they don't want to make the dems look too bad too quickly" is bonkers. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it wasn't there. I'll refer you to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence

You'd be better off with the moral of the story being that "political parties don't guarantee good candidates." For someone who has found the love and grace of Jesus, you're awfully defeatist. Political parties *should* just indicate to you the policy decisions that a candidate would make and give you an initial indicator of whether or not they'll push for policies you agree with, but nothing more than that.. If you've been taking it as a guarantee that there won't be corruption with one party while the other party will be full of it...well...I've got a few bridges to sell you.

Political corruption is for sure not a one-sided affair. There have been plenty of democrats who've been corrupt, just look at Bob Menendez in New Jersey. The main difference I'm seeing now (and I'm not sure it's always been the case, but Trump's insistence on loyalty over everything else seems to exacerbate it) is that generally democrats will be like "that person should be removed from office and charged" whereas republicans will be like "this is fake news and just a sign that they're out to get us."

[Crazed_Insanity]

Well, I don't regularly consume news that attacks Trump though, but interestingly most of my news feed is about how awful Trump is in various ways.

You're right I've been some what of a defeatist about our political situation, that's why I don't even have the motivation to vote anymore. I'm just gonna rely on Jesus able to turn a bad situation good somehow.

Political corruption is definitely another 'both sided' affair. I think one of the main reasons why I love Bernie Sanders isn't because of his politics, but because the guy maintained his integrity thru out his entire career. I do agree it probably won't be a good idea to allow somebody like Trump to stay in power for too long; however, so far, he has been the only person able to hack into the system, playing the same rule against them, in an attempt to drain the swamp. He successfully defeated the GOP establishment. However, Covid was something to totally screwed him over...

Just take Trump's very 1st impeachment as example. Yes, the guy abused his powers to attempt to make Ukrain president to investigate Hunter-Biden. There were definitely a lot of wrongdoings, but was Hunter-Biden really squeaky clean? Do the Ukranians really need Hunter-Biden's energy expertise to let him sit on the board? Anyway, it does seem to me that our justice system has been 'weaponized' to be used against political opponents. Besides Trump, Elon too! Can you imagine after you've met all of your insane work goals and then a court steps in and tells you... NOPE! That bonus is way too much money. You can't have it. WTF was that? Do we really need that kind of justice? Besides parties, our justice system has been compromised as well. Leftist courts do they leftiest crazy things and rightist supreme court does its crazy rightist things... shouldn't justice be apolitical?

In such a crazy world, the likes of Bernie Sanders can be easily dealt with. However, it's gonna be a bit more difficult for them to nail Trump.

Anyway, my moral of the story is that Americans really shouldn't have to kill one another over these stupid leftist or rightist views. I think russia intelligence isn't really meddling with our election for any specific person, but probably just sowing confusion and discord... whether it's them or not, whoever's doing it, they have succeeded. Threat to our democracy is confusion and discord. When people don't know what/who to trust, when conspiracy theories are flying all over the place, how can the 'herd' even vote properly when they're scared?

Both sides are campaigning as if they win, America will be saved, we can't let those evil people win!!!

That's just pure BS IMHO.

[Tom Servo]

I do agree it probably won't be a good idea to allow somebody like Trump to stay in power for too long; however, so far, he has been the only person able to hack into the system, playing the same rule against them, in an attempt to drain the swamp. He successfully defeated the GOP establishment. However, Covid was something to totally screwed him over...

I honestly do not have the time in a single day to unpack this craziness.

[FaultyMario]

lemme try

I do agree it probably won't be a good idea to allow somebody like Trump to stay in power for too long;

That's like a basic tenet of democracy. In fact, I think we've gone far too long with vesting power on the same estate.


however, so far, he has been the only person able to hack into the system,

What system? the one where rich people get to be abusive? He didn't hack into it, he was born in it.

playing the same rule against them,

Wait, what? He and his children were not playing against anybody, it was like the total opposite. Fucking Ivanka's husband should be in jail.

in an attempt to drain the swamp.

He attempted to what?, when?, how? See point 1B for reference.

He successfully defeated the GOP establishment.

Yes he did, and by doing so he has guaranteed that no matter how rheumatic and useless the Democratic party is, they'll have a 12 year run in the White House. Something they didn't have since Roosevelt.

Covid was something to totally screwed him over...

You think that the most awaited medical phenomenon of the century catching a world leader with no contingency plan is "totally screwing him over"? It's called a prospective scenario. And that is something that I wouldn't think a used-car salesman is specially adept at foreseeing. At least not one who stages a presser in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

[neanderthal]

I honestly do not have the time in a single day to unpack this craziness.

Jesus fucking Christ.

I applaud your continued patience and clemence with our resident ID10t.

Stay strong. And patient.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's okay, you don't have to waste time unpack anything... :p

Seriously though, I am happy to see Trump crush the GOP establishment using 'democracy'!

Bernie Sanders almost did it too... twice!

We need more term limits and age limits and whatever other means necessary to minimize those old geezer puppets occupying public office doing the will of the 'establishment'.

Trump was not a great president, but he's not as bad as dems painted him to be too. At least most folks I've talked to who served in the military actually prefers Trump over other 'normal' presidents. Tulsi Gabbard is not the only anomaly. Of course the top generals at Pentagon would likely disagree... who's right who's wrong? Lord knows.

I think Boeing's negotiation with its workers is similarly to what's wrong with our country. From top to bottom, they are focusing on dollars still. How much raise? How much bonus? We want our pensions back! Blah, blah, blah... what about safety? How about we tight your raises and bonuses to quality? If doors blow again, then you can kiss your raise good-bye?

Sometimes I just don't understand what Americans are fighting for. Neither candidates are that great. Dem voters decided Kamala wasn't good enough back in 2020 primary. What changed during her Vice Presidency to make her so great?

Harris presidency will likely be more wars all over the world just as what's happening now. I still think Trump presidency might make the world safer, but it'll make thing crazy at home though... So anyway, you guys can decide.

[FaultyMario]

Dude. Donald Trump is a shit person, a shit person would have a very difficult time trying to be a good leader, in fact, Donald Trump, who is not qualified to manage a team, found it very difficult to be president. So, in short, Donald Trump was a shit president.

Bottom 5% if not last, but just because you guys have had some really useless morons in that position.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I've never said Trump is a good person or good leader. He obviously isn't.

Kamala Harris is a good person and a good leader? Or how about Joe Biden? Is he really in charge of the WH? He couldn't even decide to run for re-election. Puppet was pushed out and replaced by another puppet.

Puppets are better leaders I guess?

[Tom Servo]

I cannot wait to hear who they're puppets of, but I have a few guesses.

[FaultyMario]

I've never said Trump is a good person or good leader.

you kind of did


Trump was not a great president, but he's not as bad as dems painted him to be too.

[FaultyMario]

i have it from good sources that the split between good and shitty people is about 9-to-1.

That proportion is flipped for politicians. Cause you have to be a special kind of dickstain to get into politics in the first place.

Kamala, Joe, Barry, Bill? 90 per cent chance they're assholes.

But out of those 4, they're all probably better at leading a team than you or me.

[FaultyMario]

Apparently Mr. Free Speech Absolutist banned a reporter who wouldn't abide by the rules set forth by the so-called intelligence community on media organizations regarding leaks to the press.

Those rules are, in essence: unknown anonymous hacker "collective"? = fine, go ahead. Known foreign government or affiliated group = the devil, how dare you divert democracy!!; regardless of content.

Anyways, here is the JD Vance dossier, intelligently written and allegedly paid for by the Trump reelection organization in their efforts to vet prospective VP hopefuls. And most likely retrieved by Iranian IT experts. https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/read-the-jd-vance-dossier

[Crazed_Insanity]

I cannot wait to hear who they're puppets of, but I have a few guesses.

Nobody knows who’s really calling the shots, suffice to say that they didn’t want Bernie Sanders so they did what was needed to make sure Joe Biden is the puppet.

Joe the puppet also clearly wanted to run again, but unfortunately because he’s just too old they forced him off. It would’ve been better for Joe to step aside early to allow for a regular primary, right? If you’re serious about retirement, that’s what you’d do, right?

So clearly there’s ’somebody’ behind scene pulling the strings. I don’t know who that somebody is, but probably a group of rich folks? I suspect folks like Bezos and Musk are probably too new to be part of that group. Maybe Trump was part of the group, but then decided to go their separate ways? So he knows what he’s up against better…

Point is, I think it should be clear that the folks we get to vote on are almost pretty much all establishment approved. If you’re not approved, it’ll be unlikely for you to make it on the ballot. Shameless Trump broke the system by winning the WH one time. He probably won’t be able to do it again.

BTW, if I really think Trump can be a good leader, I’d vote for him. Like I’ve said many times, I don’t want to vote for him!

[Tom Servo]

I say this with love.

The idea that there's an external force controlling all this is one of the oldest conspiracy theories out there. That this shadowy world told Biden to drop out. It's not that the general consensus of the democratic party was that, it's this cabal of unknown leaders who demanded it and that's what happened.

You are like two steps away from claiming the Jews control everything. You're already at the "puppet" stage, you've been primed.

Please recognize that you're on the path of radicalization. It's not a good place to be. It's not a rational place to be. I am not trying to be a dick - you really need to take a beat and recognize where you're at here.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I say this with love.

The idea that there's an external force controlling all this is one of the oldest conspiracy theories out there. That this shadowy world told Biden to drop out. It's not that the general consensus of the democratic party was that, it's this cabal of unknown leaders who demanded it and that's what happened.

You are like two steps away from claiming the Jews control everything. You're already at the "puppet" stage, you've been primed.

Please recognize that you're on the path of radicalization. It's not a good place to be. It's not a rational place to be. I am not trying to be a dick - you really need to take a beat and recognize where you're at here.

Radicalized into what you think?

Maybe the extreme center? The left tend to think I’m a Nazi racist and the right tend to think that I’m a socialist/communist… :p

Unlike most Americans, I don’t feel like voting for either, however, I’m also not really that scared about either candidates winning too.

I think the fact that the fairly popular antiestablishment candidate Bernie Sanders failed to win the primary again and again is proof enough that there’s an establishment that he couldn’t beat.

If you think the term establishment or antiestablishment is just some sort of conspiracy theories, you’re free to believe that too. There’s just no way we can get to the bottom of these things just like Jeff Epstein and Covid origin.

I can admit that I’m a radicalized Christian, but politically, I really think I have an opened mind. Just as I don’t want to believe in a single narrative about Covid origin when there’s just no evidence to back anything up. If there’s no establishment, then at least DNC is making sure only their approved candidates make it thru the primaries? They’re just rejecting Sanders because he’s not a registered democrat? Is that more palatable to you?

But the fact that W and Obama shared similar foreign policy views never struck you as odd? I just think this is beyond party line, just as Cheney and W can endorse Kamala rather than Trump!

Of course it could just be that Trump is a very very bad man! But he was POTUS for 4 years, we all got thru those 4 years okay, right? :p

[FaultyMario]

suffice to say that they didn’t want Bernie Sanders so they did what was needed to make sure Joe Biden is the puppet.

Obama didn't want Sanders, it was him who maneuvered at the height of the Uncle Bernie wave to have Kamala and Pete hold out at the bottom of the polls and worked with Warren to destroy Sander's chances. That was not puppeteering, that was politics. Inside every party there are factions, groups and sometimes they work to protect their interests, sometimes these alliances are explicit, but most of the time they're tacit understandings. But tacit doesn't mean hidden or sinister. And yes there are puppets in politics, but they almost never reach high places.

Trump was no puppet of Putin, Obama was no puppet of Soros, Dubya was no puppet of Cheney, Clinton was no puppet of the Waltons, they were flawed men, victims of their humanity.

So to be clear, a president, any president, would most likely be a clever person, maybe not smart, maybe in the autumn of life, like Biden, but they all have the ability to command.

[Tom Servo]

Of course it could just be that Trump is a very very bad man! But he was POTUS for 4 years, we all got thru those 4 years okay, right? :p

I think the women dying because doctors are afraid to treat them after Roe v. Wade was overturned might disagree that we got through it okay. Also, now we've got a Supreme Court that essentially said presidents are dictators and can do whatever they want. I think it's extremely to easy to say that we did not, in fact, get thru those 4 years okay.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Our federal government did not ban abortion. Only women lived in very red states for screwed now because that decision has been kicked back down to the state level… state should just kick it down further to individual level rather than having their ‘mandates’!

Most American women can be like Elon Musk and move across state lines to seek the medical help that they need. Yes, those under privileged women in red states are screwed. However, there are a lot of screwed Americans who are angry and not happy with their situations too.

Any conservative president would appoint the similar kind of conservative justices. Trump just happened to be in office at the right time.

Anyway, I really think using prolife prochoice as litmus test for our candidates is an amazingly dumb thing to do. The common sense solution is somewhere in between, not at those extremes.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Obama didn't want Sanders, it was him who maneuvered at the height of the Uncle Bernie wave to have Kamala and Pete hold out at the bottom of the polls and worked with Warren to destroy Sander's chances. That was not puppeteering, that was politics. Inside every party there are factions, groups and sometimes they work to protect their interests, sometimes these alliances are explicit, but most of the time they're tacit understandings. But tacit doesn't mean hidden or sinister. And yes there are puppets in politics, but they almost never reach high places.

Trump was no puppet of Putin, Obama was no puppet of Soros, Dubya was no puppet of Cheney, Clinton was no puppet of the Waltons, they were flawed men, victims of their humanity.

So to be clear, a president, any president, would most likely be a clever person, maybe not smart, maybe in the autumn of life, like Biden, but they all have the ability to command.

Obama’s rise has been amazing. Who died and made him king of the Dems? Of course he may simply be very good at strategizing so the party took his advice.

Anyway, I generally agree with you, any president most likely are clever and able to command… this includes Trump.

For most other folks, after grab’m by the pussy incident, game should’ve been over. But after multiple impeachments, indictments, trials, assassinations… the orange energizer bunny is still going.

Anyway, politicians are supposed to be puppets anyways. At least if a democracy, he needs to be people’s puppet.

If somebody like Eric Adam takes bribe, such act of corruption is just corruption? Taking such money won’t make him anybody’s puppet?

For sure most of our politicians are no longer acting on behalf of the interests of average Americans. I think we can all agree on that?

For a government of the people for the people by the people, it has been corrupted and became dysfunctional. That is a threat to democracy. This threat was not started by Donald Trump. He claims that he could fix it, I don’t believe him, but his MAGA base does.

[Tom Servo]

It's a little amazing that you wrote four paragraphs that basically just rephrased long-windedly what I said and refuted your own "we go thru those 4 years okay, right?" claim. Solid stuff, right there.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Striking down Roe v Wade was a totally unnecessary move, surely we have more important issues to deal with in our nation. I certainly am not happy about the current justices(most of them were not appointed by Trump). The rot that's going on in all branch of government pre-dates Trump. Supreme court really should not be so polarizing politically, but I guess they just are.

Did Kamala Harris promised to do anything specifically about this?

Nope. All she had to do is to claim that she holds a certain position and that'd be it. Whatever she's not doing, she can just blame the GOP for blocking her. Actually this is not just a Kamala thing, but a general DNC thing. We are the party of lesser evil, but we couldn't get anything done because evil is so strong that we couldn't beat them. So please keep on voting for us as we continue to lose this war against evil! :p

You don't like Gavin Newsom, right? But you'd vote for him in an instant against any Republican candidate, right?

Don't you think that's a little amazing too? Why are we doing this to ourselves?

[Tom Servo]

I do not know how any of that relates to "we got thru those 4 years okay."

[Crazed_Insanity]

IMHO, whether if it’s Kamala or Trump or Newsom, I’m sure most people will get thru 4 years okay.

However, I just wish we could do better than okay!

At the moment, whenever we have a Republican president, Dems would think the world will soon end. Likewise with a dem president, conservatives tend to think that will be the end of the world…

To me, I don’t see the end of the world, so we’re sorta okay, but I do consistently see a pretty crappy world. America is not leading the world to a good place…

[FaultyMario]

I honestly do not have the time in a single day to unpack this craziness.

Let this be a warning to all of the realm.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Craziness is kinda relative. Liberals think conservatives are crazy and conservatives think liberals are crazy… so how can we really tell whether if somebody’s sane?

[FaultyMario]

Open the window and see if it's raining. duh!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Is it really that simple?

Then why does it appear as if half of the world's population are insane and unable to look out the window and tell how the weather is?

Actually on the personal level, I think majority of the population are going nuts trying to kill one another over Kamala and Donald... I just don't understand why? Why must one beat the other one? How will the winning side change anything that will bring lasting good?

I hope it's clearer now why I pin my hope on Jesus! ;)

[MR2 Fan]

the spam text messages from the campaigns are getting insane...10 to 15 a DAY now, a vast majority of which automatically get sent to spam on my phone thankfully

[MR2 Fan]

Correction, it's more like 20 to 30 spam texts now, I'm not even signed up for anything political....but it's all coming from the democrats (which is preferred but still, this is way too many)

[Crazed_Insanity]

This is how they shower us with attention, right before the election! Enjoy while we can… cause after the election, they probably won’t pay much attention to us anymore…

Anyway, I really think Harris/Biden Admin will continue the same de-escalation thru escalation policy. We will just continue to send our ‘friends’ bombs and let them use our bombs however they want… all in the name of self defense, which sounds good of course, but if I can vote against Kamala and Biden, I would!

Well, too bad, I can’t vote such a way.

I still have nobody to vote for though.

Unless Trump can give more details about how he might be able to bring peace.

[Tom Servo]

I'm only getting a few a day thankfully. What's fun is that all the text spam I get is for democrats and all the email ones I get are for republicans.

[Yw-slayer]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/mrt-east-west-line-disruption-restore-full-services-target-tuesday-smrt-lta-4642326

Still no services, new cracks found.

Still no reporting in western Msm on Failed State 2: Fail Harder

[Crazed_Insanity]

Sorry to hear about that man! Hope things will return to normal soon…

BTW, do you know Seattle had lots of freeway closures this weekend?
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/seattle-area-highway-ballard-bridge-closures-coming-this-weekend/

Granted, repairs didn’t spill over during week days… , so it can’t possibly compare to the commuter train issue, but just saying maybe this isn’t global news worthy?

[Rare White Ape]

An election was called for the state of Queensland today.

Not one shred of news about it in the New York Times, Bild, or Channel News Asia.

Absolute failure of both eastern and western reporting. They are all complicit in corruption. FACT.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I think I can use Boeing's recent events to illustrate few of problems we are now encountering within our nation.

1) Even considering the 2 Max crashes and blown out door plug, commercial aviation is still pretty safe. Much safer than any ground transportation. However, clearly there were too many unacceptable and avoidable 'quality escapes' from the factory. In this kind of situation, it becomes potentially easier for the public to end up with "dual realities". One group of people could continue to believe Boeing planes are safe, because if there were no news or no internet or if there's an official narrative about how safe Boeing planes are, Boeing's image could still be maintained for those who've never experienced problems. However, for those who lost loved ones on Max planes... or for those experienced door plug blowing off, surely those people will likely never fly Boeing again. Family and friends of those may take up their side, but then Boeing officials may want to paint those folks as crazy and brush them off in order to maintain their image. Same with Boeing Starliner, if there's no other option, NASA would be forced to return the astronauts home and they don't have to share all of their concerns to the public... and astronauts would've safely returned to earth! So what's the actual reality? Starliner is a safe spacecraft or dangerous one? It's understandable sometimes government may not wish to share all the information to the public, but time will eventually tell. Just as space shuttles' 100+ mission resulted in 2 catastrophic failures. Is that good or bad? To me that's really hard to conclusively define..., it's not that good nor is it that horribly bad. However, what would be obviously wrong is to have an official narrative pushing on to the public that if you believe Boeing factories would allow bad quality to leak out, then you are a racist... that is totally unnecessary step to take. They really could easily be cleared up if truth is allowed to reveal itself. However, if for whatever reasons, truth cannot be allowed out, then conspiracy theories are just something we have to live with. Right now, at least there's no conspiracy theories about Boeing's quality issues. Of course the price for that is a damaged Boeing reputation. As for some other companies and government agencies, can they afford to take a hit like that?

2) Who controls Boeing? CEO(President/politicians)? Shareholder(Voters)? Board(Establishment/shadowy figures)? Of course CEO has direct control of the day to day operations of the company, but are his hands free to do whatever he wants? Does he listen to shareholders or the board more? The board can also have people like the son of VP of the USA... Hunter Biden was likely a 'puppet' placed inside that energy company's board... point is that there can be so much wiggle room for the rich to play around in that board room. Do you guys really believe such 'board room' for our nation doesn't exist?

3) Boeing is currently bleeding cash due to labor strike. It's kinda amazing to me that machinists now have a nerve to ask for 40% raises over the next 4 years. Considering the products Boeing has turned out. Nobody within the company deserves a raise. Union contract negotiations, at least so far, discussed nothing about safety. I don't understand why Boeing executives couldn't just agree to its worker's demand, but make it contingent upon producing quality planes! If the company encounters another safety issue, then you can kiss your negotiated raise/bonuses good-bye! However, at the moment the discussion is still all about MONEY! Do they not see what's really important here? I think Voters in US have similarly lost sight of what's important too. All we can see are the evilness of the other side, we can forget about working together...

Anyway, so, yeah, I was thinking what's going on at Boeing is probably a glimpse of our collective future. Hopefully we'll be able overcome our problems...

[21Kid]

You guys sure spend a lot of effort arguing/debating billi, to no affect.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Only people who know everything don't need to argue and debate anymore.

I most certainly don't know everything. Swervo knows a lot of things, but he doesn't know everything too.

Do you really expect a politics thread to be free from arguments? That really sound reasonable?

[Yw-slayer]

An election was called for the state of Queensland today.

Not one shred of news about it in the New York Times, Bild, or Channel News Asia.

Absolute failure of both eastern and western reporting. They are all complicit in corruption. FACT.

ACTUERLY you just need to know where to look: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/01/queensland-state-election-labor-liberal-polls-steven-miles-david-crisafulli by Ben Smee Queensland state correspondent

Meanwhile the MRT breakdown lasted 6 days:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/east-west-line-mrt-jurong-east-buona-vista-train-resumes-service-4649591

Nothing in the Guardian.

MEANWHILE

Guardian in 2018: "WORST EVER DELAY A SIX HOUR SIGNAL FAILURE" with reduced frequency 12-15 minutes!!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/17/hong-kong-train-network-suffers-its-worst-ever-delay-a-six-hour-signal-failure


The city’s rail operator said it had to operate three major lines, along with a fourth line, manually. Instead of running every two to three minutes, trains were running at 12 to 15-minute intervals, according to the MTR. Regular service of the metro system resumed around midday.

MEANWHILE

Guardian in 2019 via Reuters: When two trains not carrying passengers crash and resulting in the connection between 2 stations not operating for 1 day https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/18/hong-kong-faces-commuter-chaos-after-rare-train-collision


A train collision in Hong Kong has threatened commuter chaos during the rush hour, authorities have said.

The rare disruption on a network used by nearly 6 million people every weekday brought services to a halt on Monday between the stations of Central and Admiralty, the rail operator MTR Corporation said.

“The repair will take quite a long time and the service between Central and Admiralty … will not be available for the whole day,” said MTR’s operations director, Lau Tin-shing.

An investigation into the incident has begun, although the trains carried no passengers at the time of the collision, during a trial run of a new signal system.

But it's OK, I can see why you guys might overlook the details if you're not caught up in and directly affected by geopolitical posturing that is supported by the most-powerful and widespread propaganda machinery in history.

https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/anti-china-rhetoric-is-off-the-charts-in-western-media/ by Chandran Nair

[FaultyMario]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GYsWZ3NasAA-H0i.jpg

They all feed on human suffering.


I was just briefed by @FEMA_Deanne
Criswell on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery.

I also spoke with @NC_Governor Cooper about the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in North Carolina.

Our Administration will continue to stay in constant contact with state and local officials to ensure communities have the support and resources they need.

Doug and my thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones and those whose homes, businesses, and communities were damaged or destroyed during this disaster.

Emphasis mine.

[FaultyMario]

In case any explanation is needed:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GYp7nGAXkAAdtfF.jpg

[Rare White Ape]

ACTUERLY you just need to know where to look: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/01/queensland-state-election-labor-liberal-polls-steven-miles-david-crisafulli by Ben Smee Queensland state correspondent

The Guardian has an Australian bureau which publishes articles and reports sourced in Australia. But you won’t find this article on a byline from The Guardian’s UK or US branches, so those particular outlets are 100% COMPLICIT IN NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WESTERN MSM BIAS.

[Yw-slayer]

Yes, I know it has a Australian bureau. If you go to their global website and hit world news and then Australia you can also find YET ANOTHER article:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/01/steven-miles-north-queensland-mayor-troy-thompson-show-cause-ntwnfb

Just like if you go to the Asia section it's got articles such as "BRITISH JUDGE LORD PHILIPS STEPS DOWN FROM HONG KONG COURT" (he's 86 years old, btw, so this is not surprising, but for some mysterious reason they didn't identify this as a possible reason).

[Rare White Ape]

I’m sure you’ll find LOTS of Australian articles in the AUSTRALIAN ARTICLES SECTION AND NOTHING FROM HONKERS.

Just proof that the AUSTRALIA SECTION OF THE GUARDIAN IS COMPLICIT IN SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WESTERN MSM BIAS.

BTW ‘Honkers’ is a slang term for Hong Kong, and might be used by some Australian journalists in everyday casual dialogue. FACT.

[Tom Servo]

Meanwhile, both of the Guardian articles cited above spend about half the time praising the Hong Kong transit system as being considered one of the best in the world and point out how rare disruptions are (which might be what makes them newsworthy?)

[George]

Correction, it's more like 20 to 30 spam texts now, I'm not even signed up for anything political....but it's all coming from the democrats (which is preferred but still, this is way too many)

I'm about to smash my phone with a sledgehammer on the floor of my garage from all the political spam texts I receive every single day. My wife signed me up for some Democrat party bullshit some time ago and now it seems like all I do, all day, every day, is delete spam texts.

For several reasons, I am seriously considering going back to a flip-phone, or maybe none at all.

I was at at a baseball game on Sunday, trying to relax and enjoy a place that's like the beach or a ski area or a golf course or a mountain bike trail, where we can get away from it all for a while and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist, and I get "Hi! It's Liz Cheney! Won't you donate forty dollars to help defeat Donald Trump?" or similar crap on my phone constantly. And the same stuff, over and over and over. And they're all from different phone numbers! I know this because I select Delete And Report Junk for every one, every day, all day long. That's supposed to block them, but it doesn't do anything!

If I knew where these people work, I would visit and deliver great violence upon them. Maybe quote some scripture, too! Thou shalt not make me reach for my phone every fucking sixteen minutes to see if it's my wife and/or kids texting me!

https://bigkahunaburgerhunt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bkb-at-home.jpg


And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

Sorry for getting all religious in here, but y'all are used to it, right? ;)

[Tom Servo]

I get a ton, but they *all* get filtered to spam by my phone. I'm not sure how other phones are, but the Google Pixels are very good at just sending all of that shit to the bitbucket, I have to go look in the spam folder to see how many I've gotten mostly just to post here about the number.

The biggest frustration to me is that every time they legislate some bill about spamming, whether it's phone calls, texts, or emails, political campaigns are always exempted. It's a bipartisan thing, they all are like "yes, we realize these are annoying and disruptive and intrusive, but you surely don't mean that when they're coming from us, right?"

[George]

I have an iPhone 12 and it delivers them all to me without delay, just like the ten or twenty phone calls per day (okay, maybe three or four) I get about a new roof for my house, my student loans, the warranty on my car, and all that other crap that just never stops.

Oh, well. Griping is easy. And fun. But, sorry.

I am looking forward to the debate tonight. I wonder if we'll get a "you're no Jack Kennedy" moment. Or, maybe an "I don't know why I'm here" remark. (Anyone remember that one?)

Maybe, "Senator, even with that beard, you're no Ulysses Grant!"

But then I remember the quote about the office not being worth a bucket of warm whatever it was.

[Tom Servo]

Naah, the gripe is legit, Gripe away. I hope that Apple gets as good of text spam filtering as Google's got right now, it's pretty glorious.

I'm looking forward to the debate as well, but once again they're scheduling debates across from bar trivia night, so the debate will have to wait.

[Tom Servo]

Triumph has instantly won the debate.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GY2MLASWMAYV1dI?format=jpg&name=large

[Crazed_Insanity]

:lol:

[George]

Jimmy Carter is now one hundred years old. His birthday was yesterday, October 1. I hope he has a decent quality of life these days.

[Tom Servo]

Notably, he is no longer within the acceptable age range for some Lego sets, which were often like "4-99 years".

[George]

:(

https://gtxforums.net/showthread.php?76-LEGO

[Rare White Ape]

Notably, he is no longer within the acceptable age range for some Lego sets, which were often like "4-99 years".

But he’d still be able to run for president if he wasn’t already.

[Tom Servo]

So I've been thinking about YW's complaints that for some reason Singapore gets a pass in the western media whereas Hong Kong does not, and I think that he's misjudging the situation.

Honestly, when it comes to Signapore, the western media care about precisely three things. That hotel with the neat pool on top. The F1 GP. That guy who got caned.

That's it. We do not even think about Singapore outside of that.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, is a major economic hub and also has long-lasting ties to the west. When something happens in Hong Kong, it's newsworthy. People here care what happens in Hong Kong. They couldn't give two shits about Singapore.

So it's not that HK is vilified and Singapore is treated with kid gloves, it's that nobody here gives a fuck about Singapore. I hope that helps you feel better about all this, YW.

EDIT: I should say that it's not that I don't care what happens in Singapore, or that I have a strong feeling either way. But just like the western media wouldn't mention a flood in Guyana, they're not paying attention to Singapore either. We've got a limited attention span here, so the countries that are worth reporting are few and far between.

[FaultyMario]

Dude...


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GX3GOJOWcAAfSXh.jpg

[Tom Servo]

My dumb ass thought "that chyron can't possibly be real," but sure as shit, it is.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Dude, how did I miss this back in 2019!?!?! We all just noticed this mistake now in 2024?

[MR2 Fan]

wait, you all didn't know???

[Tom Servo]

My shame knows no bounds.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Could just be because average Americans don’t give a flying car about those 3 amigos, nor do we care what’s going on in Hong Kong and Singapore… so western mainstream media are free to report or not report any BS they want or don’t want.

I wonder why? Hmmmm…

Maybe we’re just stupid. :p

To be fair, we don’t watch a lot of FOX in this confused nation of ours.

[George]

The average American couldn't immediately point to HK or Singapore on a map of the world, I'd wager. I know the general area, but I'd have to look for those names printed on the map rather than already knowing right where they are, as I do, say, Argentina Meat Mexico.


But he still be able to run for president if he wasn’t already.

It is not important, and I'm certainly not trying to correct you, RWA, but the history nerd in me can't resist mentioning that Jimmy Carter is eligible for another four-year term as president. He's a natural born citizen over the age of 35 and he was only elected once. Since the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, a person can serve as president for a maximum of ten years, which would be up to two years of a previous president's term, in the case of death or resignation or successful impeachment, when he or she was vice president. Then that former VP can still be elected to two full terms.

A random source from Google: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/constitutional-amendments-amendment-22-term-limits-presidency#:~:text=No%20person%20shall%20be%20elec ted,of%20President%20more%20than%20once.

No one has ever served ten years, although Frankin D. Roosevelt served thirteen years before that amendment was ratified.

Also, interestingly, no one has ever served eight years as VP and then eight years as president. Richard Nixon came closest, having been elected to both offices twice, but we know how that ended. And Joe Biden had a chance to do it, but currently there's no one in the running for that achievement.

One last tidbit of presidential trivia that's related to Mr. Carter: The last US president of the Democratic party to die was Lyndon Johnson in 1973!

[MR2 Fan]

Good news: Tina Peters who did some major attempts at election interference by hacking voting machines in Colorado that was caught on video has finally been sentenced to 9+ years in prison. She is batshit, so I'm glad the judge gave her nearly the maximum sentence.

The police bodycam of her initial arrest in 2022 is also wild, it is amazing what a white woman gets away with:

https://x.com/ChrisJustice01/status/1547669549100609539

I'm hoping others who are thinking about helping Trump attempt to steal another election will think twice when they see this sentence handed down.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm sorry, what's the thing that she got away with in that linked video?

[MR2 Fan]

Here's some details:

https://www.denver7.com/news/politics/former-colorado%20county-clerk-tina-peters-sentenced-to-9-years-incarceration-for-voting-data-scheme

[Yw-slayer]

So I've been thinking about YW's complaints that for some reason Singapore gets a pass in the western media whereas Hong Kong does not, and I think that he's misjudging the situation.

Honestly, when it comes to Signapore, the western media care about precisely three things. That hotel with the neat pool on top. The F1 GP. That guy who got caned.

That's it. We do not even think about Singapore outside of that.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, is a major economic hub and also has long-lasting ties to the west. When something happens in Hong Kong, it's newsworthy. People here care what happens in Hong Kong. They couldn't give two shits about Singapore.

So it's not that HK is vilified and Singapore is treated with kid gloves, it's that nobody here gives a fuck about Singapore. I hope that helps you feel better about all this, YW.

EDIT: I should say that it's not that I don't care what happens in Singapore, or that I have a strong feeling either way. But just like the western media wouldn't mention a flood in Guyana, they're not paying attention to Singapore either. We've got a limited attention span here, so the countries that are worth reporting are few and far between.

The starting points are these:

(1) Western MSM is mainly written in English, which is the general lingua fraca, for an English-speaking audience.

(2) The articles are mainly written by the large agencies. And while occasionally they gripe about their governments or whatever crap, their general style and worldview is to portray one side as "US/LIKE US" and to contrast that with everyone else. Maybe to make it newsworthy, but again, that's because of their worldview, audience, and language.

So then go on to how what you say is actually part of the point I'm making. Singapore is effectively the most US-friendly and Israel-friendly state in the region. It's largely treated with kid gloves by Western MSM as being "Generally OK (but not perfect) as even though they are a bit odd they are on 'our side' (let's ignore the authoritarian/socialist tendencies) and the elites there usually speak English which is useful as it is our western MSM language." It is hence very different in many ways from much of the rest of South-East Asia, which are useful/helpful to the western MSM narrative.

On the other hand, due to its history, Hong Kong was a major playground for foreign influence and operations. When the Central Government resumed sovereignty they took a relatively hands-off approach as things were generally not too bad and no-one wanted to feed the "END OF HONG KONG" narrative. This was until 2019 when things got really out of hand due to the place becoming the victim of a pointless geopolitical struggle created by Western Governments and Western MSM, self-serving cunts like Trump, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton, and Billi's Brainwashed Bros buying the narrative that they were heroes due to all of the above.

Of course, once things don't suit the western MSM narrative (such as from 2019 onward), it's easy. Pump out stories about "DEATH OF 'UNFRIENDLY ALIEN' PLACE COMING!??!!", "'UNFRIENDLY ALIEN PLACE IS NOT LIKE US BECAUSE WE THINK IT IS UNFRIENDLY AND ALIEN" and/or "THIS PART OF 'UNFRIENDLY ALIEN PLACE' IS GOING WELL BUT AT WHAT COST??!?!??!/?!" In the meantime, where necessary, point to the relatively (or portrayed as such) less unfriendly, relatively less alien, place and focus only on the good stuff. That's optional. But the bad news and impression is out there already and mud sticks. It will be repeated by the MSM because they have every reason to do so to support and continue to perpetuate their general agenda and worldview, and due to geopolitical reasons, which are of course exaggerated by other places and people who always feel the need to go around interfering in other people's stuff predominantly because they want to pander to their base and stay in power.

That's why I always say - everything is biased. Just try and adjust for it as best as is possible when reading or looking at what's being reported. It's easier to do so when you live through a period in a place your experience is quite different from the absolute fucking rubbish being reported by Western MSM which then apparently becomes authoritative "truth" to most of the English-language and syndicated news-reading world.

I know this is a bit long but as I know you made the effort to explain what you thought - for which you have my thanks - and I have tried to do so on my end (without just usual trollololing) even though it's quite late and I just got home from work.

[Rare White Ape]

Another thing worth noting is that even white, English speaking countries outside the USA are treated with a sort of “otherness” by media from within its borders.

I don’t know how much that amplifies it from your point of view in Honkers, but as it stands the USA is the primary cultural influence for all English speaking countries so all reporting from English language sources will follow the same tone, intentional or not.

[Tom Servo]

For sure everything is biased, I always view it as part of our job to try to identify that and take it into context. But, like, in this recent thing about how The Guardian reported on Hong Kong rail issues and not Singapore, the article was basically like "this never happens to arguably the best rail transit system in the world and that's why it's newsworthy." I didn't get anything out of the articles you linked to that seemed to much of anything other than heap praise on transit in HK.

[Tom Servo]

A state senator in Idaho told a Native American candidate to "go back to where you came from." That is chef's-kiss levels of racism.

https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-government/2024-10-03/dan-foreman-racism-idaho-nez-perce-candidate-kendrick

Just in case you don't read the whole article, the ending is sublime.



Indigenous people, including the Nez Perce tribe, have lived in the Columbia River Basin for thousands of years. Foreman was born in Lake Forest, Illinois.

[Rare White Ape]

Not only that, but his whiteness and family name suggests that his ancestry is probably from England, and people from his family emigrated to the US within the last century.

They say practice what you preach, and being a religious man (which he very much is according to information on Wikipedia that says he has 7 children and 'refers to himself as "a Christian, conservative Republican"' he would follow Jesus' second commandment quite closely.

So therefore I anticipate him giving up his job and his livelihood and moving himself and his 7 children and 20 grandchildren and moving right the fuck back to where HE came from.

Maybe then he could feel what it's like to lose it all, like the Native Americans did when their country was taken and destroyed by European settlers. Except he'd probably land a nice well-paid private sector consulting gig instead of having to fight the government for everything he has lost.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It’s really difficult to believe that there are people who think there are multiple Mexican nations and also that there are people who think native Americans should just go back to America…

It’s embarrassing but what else can we do other than laugh it off?

By voting Kamala, we’ll really be able to fix this? By voting Trump, will more Americans be more ignorant?

May God have mercy…

[Tom Servo]

Imagine thinking "well, one side is talking about deporting legal immigrants and courting white supremacists" and coming to the conclusion that we can't do anything more than "laugh it off."

Like, really immerse yourself in that brain. The one that thinks "well, the other candidate isn't perfect, so fuck it, bring on the purge."

Just incredible stuff.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Dude, I understand you're upset, but please don't imagine things that I didn't say.

I do like Trump's 'anti-establishmentness', but due to his lack of character, I cannot in good conscience vote for him. With that out of the way..., I just want you to know, that although the 3 Mexico thing happened during Trump admin in 2019, but this telling the native americans to go back to where they came from is happening during the Biden Admin, right? Not to mention BLM happened during Obama's time. I mentioned them not to pin fault at these presidents. Just to illustrate these admins cannot possibly alter Americans' ignorance and racist attitude right away. We can vote for only democrat politicans from now on, ignorance and racisms still likely won't magically disappear. These things will take time. In the meantime, I can only laugh it off. Cause otherwise, what else are you going to do?

Burn down Foxnews? Hang that senator?

Lastly, the side that you don't like surely isn't ONLY talking about deporting legal immigrants and courting white supremacists, right? Are those really their only agenda?

Personally, I think a lot of these things are reactionary. Our immigration problems are getting bigger and bigger and even Kamala Harris is finally visiting the border wall. We've also paid a lot more attention to minorities and their rights... not that there's anything wrong with that, but I think average white folks are beginning to feel left out. When things are out of balance, reactionary movements tend to happen.

If you and the democratic party is so right and the GOP and Trump are really so evil, the race really shouldn't be this close. Of course I know # doesn't prove anything. Hitler won his election and doesn't mean he's right, but it shows that there's an imbalance that Hitler took advantage of.

There are a lot of imbalances in America as well. I don't know what else to do except to sometimes laugh it off and shake my head. You don't have to paint me as a bad guy. However, if it makes you feel better to paint me as a bad guy, then be my guest. I'm glad I can help out in that capacity.

[MR2 Fan]

Oklahoma School Superintendent trying to force public schools to pay for...TRUMP Bibles:

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/10/04/donald-trump-supported-bible-one-of-few-that-meets-ryan-walters-criteria-for-ok-classrooms/75510021007/

JFC

[Crazed_Insanity]

That’s clearly their attempt to kiss up to Trump.

Bible is readily available in US and even if you’re poor and unable to afford one, I’m sure many churches will be happy to supply you with one.

If taxpayers in Kansas feel it’s necessary to pay that much money for its public schools for that, who am I to stop them. Hopefully federal government won’t to stupid enough to do the same thing. We don’t need to get in debt to buy God’s word like that.

Anyway, when you see news like that, what do you think is their motive? Kansas folks really love God’s word?

Nope, they’re doing that specifically to piss you off. Even when there's no more Trump, those people will find other ways to pass something to piss you off... and then you'll likely want to pass some other things to piss them off... and the game continues. Should we really allow them to piss us off? Anyway, I’m not gonna give them the satisfaction. I will simply laugh it off and shake my head. (Hopefully by adding shake my head will Swervo understand that I don’t genuinely enjoy those ignorant ass comedic BS, but laughing them off is better for my own health!) If I have to power to pass something, I will pass something that's good for everyone. I'm not going to pass anything with the intention of pissing anybody off. This vicious cycle has to stop somewhere.

[Tom Servo]

Hopefully by adding shake my head will Swervo understand that I don’t genuinely enjoy those ignorant ass comedic BS

As long as you keep thinking of people like Jordan Petersen and Elon Musk as serious people who don't deserve constant mocking, I will be skeptical of your headshake.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Jordan Peterson and Elon Musk are definitely not perfect human beings. However, they have certain qualities that I admire. So I focus on those qualities.

Elon has gone as far as saying that it's 'immoral' to work from home. Well, I'm still working from home most of the time. If he thinks that I'm an immoral person, so what? Why should I give a damn? I still think it's cool as hell to have a world leading EV company and a rocket company.

Peterson has also given me lots of great insights regarding human psychology. Amazingly, his interpretation of the Bible is also incredibly insightful for a non-Christian. However, do I stick to his beef and broccoli only diet? Hell no!

Similarly for Bernie Sanders, somebody you didn't mention. I don't agree with him fully as well. But I also admire the heaven out of that atheist.

Point is I try to focus on people's positive qualities.

For folks like Trump and Kamala, I honestly don't have much positives to focus on.

I like Biden and even voted for him. However, his handling of the Ukraine and wars around Israel has been thoroughly disappointing. Whether if he's intentionally making those wars forever or that he's just ineffective, it's really not good. I'm pretty sure Kamala will maintain that status quo. I'm also unsure how Trump could do better.

However, you won't find me mocking Kamala and Trump all day.

Seriously, what's the point of mocking anybody? You think they will run away and hide in shame?

[Tom Servo]

Seriously, what's the point of mocking anybody? You think they will run away and hide in shame?

Yes. That would be the end goal. If we all try hard enough, these absolute failures might just shut the hell up and go hide, and we'd all be better off.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Take a look in past history, when has that approach ever worked?

Elon is still a rich ass mutherfoquer! Tesla is still the leading EV maker. SpaceX still kicks ass. Even X is still operating in ways Elno wants it.

Also has Jordan Peterson’s appeal really vanished thanks to all the mockery?

Even Trump… impeach him once twice, if elected, I can almost bet more impeachments to come… also all the trials… the dude has been in business for all his life, all of a sudden now, he becomes a criminal? Don’t you guys think a lot of charges were politically motivated? Our justice system isn’t being weaponized?

Anyway, guess what, all the mockery, all the charges, they seemed to only give Trump more lasting power. It’s clear he’s shameless and won’t go away.

[Tom Servo]

A couple of things there.

I can't speak much to how Tesla is doing, so I'll give you that. Space X keeps demolishing launch sites. X is a dumpster fire that is hemorrhaging money.

Nobody outside of you and me making fun of you talks about Jordan Peterson anymore. Mockery absolutely worked, and rightfully so.

I honestly do not know how to parse your sentence about Trump, so I'll leave that alone.

[Tom Servo]

Actually, no, your Trump bit deserves more scrutiny. He's long been a criminal. In the 70's he got convicted of discrimination. He settled his "Trump University" suit. The man has had a long, long, long history of criminal behavior. To say "all of a sudden now, he becomes a criminal" is the most insane take I can possibly think of. Trump is shameless, but I do not know how you could write that sentence and not shrivel up in shame. You should be grabbing your knees and repeating "I am a Trumpian whore" after writing that bullshit.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Look, I didn’t vote for him back in 2016 and have no intention to vote for him 2024.

Not a huge admirer of casinos and golf courses. University was nice idea but clearly trump university was BS!

The guy might be a crook back then, but he was never really jailed was he? Mainstream media also loved him before politics came into the picture.


https://youtu.be/d6_cN_scJvE?si=AfRQpcwt7Eq2RYxu

Point is I didn’t love the guy before and I don’t totally hate the guy now. Him switching party made little difference to me.However, looking at the video above, I honestly don’t understand why the 180 deg turn around for the mainstream media. As for our justice system, I guess our justice system couldn’t get rich guys then and couldn’t get rich guys now? Maybe that hasn’t changed.

There’s a 180 change of treatment to Elon as well as he moves from CA to TX. Again, I admired his entrepreneurial skills before and I admire it still. Would I vote for him for public office? Nope. I think he can serve better by building companies.

I’d have no problem with Peterson in public office though. Of course he’s not American so I can’t really vote for him, just saying I would. As far as I can tell, he’s as popular as ever on you tube. Anyway, at least he’s well off enough I don’t think he has anything to worry about.

Anyway, I just think mockery is not only childish but also not effective. Maybe if you bully a little kid, you could cause him to want to hide and perhaps kill himself, but for a grown ass man, especially for those who have already established themselves, do you think they would tuck their tails and run away?

Lastly, I think your hatred for their political views may have clouded your judgement of them as human beings? Just take me for example. I don't understand how I am a Trumpian whore when I haven't never voted for him and don't plan on voting for him in 2024. I just don't like that guy that much. Yet, you don't seem to believe me all because my political view is different from yours. Do you really need to see other human beings thru your politically colored lenses?

[Rare White Ape]

These are the sort of people who Trump aligns himself with, and who align themselves to Trump:
https://x.com/notcapnamerica/status/1841933359942930499

[Fiat500]

That was beautiful.

[Tom Servo]

Lastly, I think your hatred for their political views may have clouded your judgement of them as human beings? Just take me for example. I don't understand how I am a Trumpian whore when I haven't never voted for him and don't plan on voting for him in 2024. I just don't like that guy that much. Yet, you don't seem to believe me all because my political view is different from yours. Do you really need to see other human beings thru your politically colored lenses?

I say that because you consistently repeat his talking points while claiming to not be a supporter, and you say bonkers things like "all of a sudden now he becomes a criminal", and when confronted with the fact that he's repeatedly shown he's a criminal for 50+ years, you try to make it sound like I'm being the weird one.

He is a bad person who wants to do bad things to people. He just recently said he basically thinks the police should have a kristallnacht. He and Stephen Miller are pushing for a denaturalization plan, to deport people who are here legally. He's so brazen in his gaslighting that he tries to tell people who did not want Roe v. Wade overturned that they, in fact, did.

I think it's okay to hate someone for their political views, especially when those political views appear to mean hating people for their ethnicity or color of their skin. I think both Trump and Musk are bad people with bad aims, and who are willing to hurt a lot of people to get what they want. I think it's okay to hate them for that.

[Tom Servo]

That was beautiful.

It brought a tear to my eye.

[MR2 Fan]

It brought a tear to my eye.

Yes it is so refreshing to see someone get the verbal and legal beat-down they deserve. I wish all of these idiots trying similar things would hear that statement from the judge (not that they would learn anything anyway)

[Crazed_Insanity]

(not that they would learn anything anyway)

Emphasis mine!

This is why mocking them even jailing them can be useless.

Okay, back to my arguing with Swervo…

Now, if you honestly wish to see things as good vs bad, let’s try this exercise.

Which is worse? W or Trump admin and why?

IMHO, W is worse because of that bogus war which fucked up the Middle East further. Now, may I know your thoughts about what’s more evil in your eyes?

[Tom Servo]

Trump is worse. The man almost single-handedly ended our system of government and appears to be hell-bent on finishing the job.

W was incompetent and Dick Cheney was evil, but neither of them were as bad as Trump.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Would you give Lincoln any credit if he ‘almost’ abolished slavery?

W was the Putin who invaded another nation on bogus reasons! But we pretended to see no evil and hear no evil.

Look in Jan 6, how many lives lost compared to invasion of Iraq? How many shots fired by the insurrectionists?

Reality is that nearly half of the voters still want Trump as president and they’re not that happy with Biden. You can assume half of Americans are racist assholes if you want, but I tend to think this is because our elected officials tend to ignore half of their constituents… or constituents of different color. Mocking happens on both sides of course, but I’m just saying it’s clearly not working.

As much as I hate W and Cheney, I’d not be waste time mocking them. Why not just let’s have a better president to lead this nation to a better place? A president good enough to win reelections?

You beat the other side by having better candidates rather than just by mocking. Having lousy candidates simply gives the other side more chances to mock your candidate. This back and forth mocking will simply make America worse and worse…

If a climate activist would gladly see the demise of Tesla, then it only proves that fighting climate is just a political move rather than a scientific one. If climate scientists really want more EVs, he shouldn’t care if the boss of the leading EV maker is Republican or democrat, right?

Back then when we were shooting for the moon, were we politically partisan like we are today?

[Tom Servo]

Okay, so I'm sure you thought you had a point with that first line there, but lord knows I don't know what it was supposed to be. Was it supposed to be just centered around "almost"? One of those two things is an admirable goal, the other is a selfish power grab. They aren't even remotely similar. Would I give credit to Lincoln if he tried to do an admirable thing but didn't have the success he did? Of course I would. Was the idea that my problem with Trump is that he didn't ultimately succeed in a treasonous usurpation of power? His failure there is not the problem I have with that. I keep thinking about this and editing this comment - did you really think that the reason I think poorly of Trump was that he didn't succeed with the insurrection? Like, if he pulled it off, I'd be impressed?

In the meantime, I don't have to choose between having a good president or mocking people who deserve it. I can do both of those things. I'm not saying Harris would be an amazing president, but there's nothing about me talking shit about absolute dimwits like Trump and Musk that has any effect on whether or not we could have a good candidate. It does, however, help people realize how absolutely idiotic those two douchebags are, so in my mind it's almost as much of a public service as voting is.

[Crazed_Insanity]

History surely won’t remember Lincoln the same way if he didn’t abolish slavery.

If Trump succeeded, history will definitely remember Trump differently. If future America goes the trumpian way, he might be the new founding father who saved America from the establishment. Or he could end up like Hitler as you feared. I honestly don’t know what would happen.

Anyway, point is I don’t think you should give credit when credit isn’t due. Even assuming you’re right about Trump becoming like Hitler, it didn’t happen. So I don’t see how that can be more evil than a bogus Iraq war that did happen.

I’m not saying I must be right, if you think Trump is more evil that you definitely have the right to believe that. However, please try not to preemptively judge people before they actually done the crime.

From another perspective, if he’s going to ‘drain the swamp’, how would that look like you think? Surely swamp creatures would see it as insurrection but for those who wants to get rid of the swamp creatures, Trump would be a hero, right?

Based on what I know about Trump’s character, I’m not confident he will use the power he grabbed for good, that’s why I hesitate to vote for him. However, who knows? If he’s really born again, maybe he could be good!

Anyway, best way to mock Elon is to create competitions that can beat his companies. As you win his customers over, he will be mocked thoroughly.

When I don’t have a better EV or better rocket, I’d rather not mock him.

[Tom Servo]

If someone kept attempting to stab you to death but, every time, fell down, would you be like "well, he's not a death-stabber because he only 'almost' stabbed me to death?"

Like, if the same person keeps running at you with a knife, I'm guessing you'd want something done about it even if he hasn't successfully managed to stab you to death yet. "I really don't think it's fair to call this knife-wielding maniac a stabber because he hasn't actually managed to pierce my flesh yet."

[Tom Servo]

Oh, and as far as mocking Musk goes, it doesn't hurt that he's a deeply unprincipled and hypocritical doofus.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GZJcDyfWoAA36zN?format=jpg&name=900x900

[Crazed_Insanity]

Imagine you revolutionized the EV industry, yet Biden thinks GM should take the credit. How would you feel?

Anyway, at least I don’t really care any particular side must win, I honestly still do not like neither side. So I’m willing to allow our democratic process decide our fate.

Unless you identify yourself as part of the establishment/swamp creature, you shouldn’t have to worry about Trump coming to stab you. Even if Trump is the next Hitler and popular with our military, I don’t think our servicemen will allow dictatorship in America.

Somebody holding a knife heading your direction may be doing so for various reasons… of course we should protect ourselves to not get stabbed, but it’s probably also wise to not mock that crazy guy? ;)

[Tom Servo]

Again - he and Stephen Miller are talking about a denaturalization program and deporting ~20 million people.

I know I'm fine. I'm a straight white dude. but a lot of people who aren't "establishment/swamp" will get caught up in this.

The man is literally telling you the bad things he's going to do. What's it going to take for you to believe him when he says who he is?

[Yw-slayer]

For sure everything is biased, I always view it as part of our job to try to identify that and take it into context. But, like, in this recent thing about how The Guardian reported on Hong Kong rail issues and not Singapore, the article was basically like "this never happens to arguably the best rail transit system in the world and that's why it's newsworthy." I didn't get anything out of the articles you linked to that seemed to much of anything other than heap praise on transit in HK.

I understand what you're saying. The trend has become more pronounced over time.

On another note, as to why Billi is such an Elun-cheerleader, could it be in-part because he's hoping that a bunch of Teslun will resist a tide of far superior, China-produced EVs? HMMMMMMMMMMMM

[Crazed_Insanity]

I’m sure Trump will once again make Mexico pay to deport 20 million Americans back to Mexico?

Also I need to remember he’s a threat to our democracy?

He’s been in office for 4 years. Excuse me if I don’t take Trump too seriously by not injecting bleach and also not taking liberal scare tactics so seriously.

If Trump wins, I kinda doubt he’ll be able to drain the swamp and reform our corrupt government and I also doubt he could become a dictator in a nation with 2nd amendment.

If Kamala wins, a lot of innocent people won’t be deported but they will surely die because of our bombs.

[Rare White Ape]

On another note, as to why Billi is such an Elun-cheerleader, could it be in-part because he's hoping that a bunch of Teslun will resist a tide of far superior, China-produced EVs? HMMMMMMMMMMMM

Very good point. The guy who’s ancestry was and is living under China’s shadow might be a huge Sinophobe and will vaguely attach himself to whichever political clique is the most vocally defiant to Chinese economic growth… but I am just elaborating on what you’re pointing out here.

[Yw-slayer]

There are, indeed, many possibilities

[Crazed_Insanity]

Best way to mock Elon is to build better EVs than him and steals his market share!

However, will Biden/Harris allow the Chinese to dump cheap EVs in America?

I’d been an admirer of Elon back when he’s a liberal. I do hate the CCP, but please don’t pin me as a hater of Chinese people or China itself. Just like I can also hate the US political parties, but I don’t hate America.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Anyway, saw this on FB..., this is basically how I feel about our election:

4339

I honestly do not understand why or what 2 sides are fighting so passionately for...

Give me somebody like Bernie Sanders, or at least Mayor Pete? At least he wanted to be like Bernie when he grows up. Those folks are somebody I can get passionate for.

Unfortunately DNC kept on shoving down other candidates down my throat and threaten me that I have to vote for them to save democracy.

Well, I voted for Biden.

I'm spitting out Kamala.

I won't vote for Trump either so don't you guys worry.

Like I said before, this election is about voting for either drinking pee or eating poop. May the best human excrement win. I'm not going to play anymore. If you guys are serious about saving democracy, please adhere to democratic processes. Yeah, Trump is wrong to keep on claiming election fraud, but DNC is wrong to also keep on shoving candidates I don't want down my throat.

On the bright side, human excrement could still be used as fertilizer... so hopefully we can still have a brighter future later... I honestly don't believe either Trump or Kamala will be able to single handedly end America. I'm okay with either of them in the WH. Surely I can endure for 4 more years.

[Rare White Ape]

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

[Crazed_Insanity]

I really have no idea what is Dark MAGA. A lot of pictures made him look dorky rather than dark... this one made him look down right evil!

Even as an Elon admirer, I don't believe the rhetoric of this being the last election I'll ever not partake...

I really hate this BS rhetoric of vote for our guy or the world will end!!!!

Well, I'm not voting for either. Let's see how it ends.

[Yw-slayer]

https://www.policymagazine.ca/dismantling-global-white-privilege-a-roadmap-for-change/ This is a review of an interesting book, which is definitely worth reading.

[Crazed_Insanity]

One thing I hate about that title is the word 'dismantle'.

There's no question white men dominated the modern world. I've long made the claim that this is due to them following Jesus rather than due to the color of their skin. Of course, others attributed to guns, steel and germs... whatever, fact is that this result that we're seeing is not due to race, but due to many fortunate circumstances. You say lucky and I say the grace of God. Of course luck and grace alone won't be enough. Clearly europeans worked hard for their successes as well. It's combination of their hard work and good fortunes that resulted them to climb to the top of the world.

Now, as non-white folks, is the only thing we can do now is to 'dismantle' their success?

That's such a communistic view... that we ought to drag down the rich so that they are equally as poor as us in order to achieve equity.

Why can't we just work harder to catch up and perhaps even surpass? Of course I personally also believe we need a bit of luck... or God on our side too! ;)

Don't get me wrong, if those dictators on top are really oppressing us unfairly, then sure, we can have a revolution or try to dismantle their shit and have this give me liberty or give me death mentality. However, are we ready to die to 'dismantle' those on top right now?

We are already seeing more and more none white CEOs. Hopefully those CEOs got their job on merit rather than the color of their skin...

If my theory is right, white europeans' dominance will end soon as their faith in Christ dwindles down to nothing. Europe is clearly no longer its former self. America is also declining.

Religious faith aside, just do the right things, then I'm sure things can end well in the longterm. I'm a firm believer of good triumph over evil. Whiteness really has nothing to do with anything. In WW2, we had white people fighting with white people. Fortunately the good white people won. If Japanese were good, surely they would've beat the American's ass, but clearly Japanese were not fighting a just war. Of course we won an unjust war in Iraq... because we are just more powerful. However, did that really made our country better? 9/11 clearly showed us Americans that our fortunate days are over all thanks to the evils that we've done around the world.

Bottomline is that we ought not to try to dismantle anything. Just focus on building things up rather than tearing things down. I'd just let God dismantle things... or just let things die of natural causes. Life is too short to be wasted on focusing on tearing other people down. More worthwhile to build yourself and others up!

[Yw-slayer]

JFC man :eyeroll:

[Tom Servo]

Hah, and I was worried I would write something dumb in response. The book sounds interesting, though I feel like I know most of it now. Then again, that could be born of ignorance of the things I don't know. But my goodness.

[Rare White Ape]

Some essays are worth reading.

Others… are not.

lol

[Yw-slayer]

Indeed.

[Crazed_Insanity]

You guys could share your own essays, but then again, it’s probably easier just to mock people you disagree with… that’s what politics is all about right?

BTW, my 'essay' is mostly just for the title. I think deconstruct would be better perhaps? Dismantling just doesn't sound very politically correct.

The other term I have problem with is white privilege. As if all white people are rich and powerful and problem free in life. Privilege is only available to the rich and famous, not necessarily due to skin color.

I really think it's this kind of mentality which caused the poor whites in America to go MAGA! Or Trump was leveraging the frustrated poor whites to get to where he is today. Kamala is the polar opposite of course. She's a woman and she's not white. Perfect for dismantling white old men in position of power.

Are those 2 the right human beings for the job? Hell no!

Unfortunately, one of them will be it. Either one, I'll be okay with it for 4 years. I'll put my hope in another 4 years.

[Yw-slayer]

Man, you really should tell us how you feel about the title of the book without having even read it. Please, don't hold back!

[Rare White Ape]

You guys could share your own essays

Or you could go back a few thousand pages and re-read what we’ve been trying to tell you this whole time.

[Crazed_Insanity]

After thousands of pages, your views won’t ever change?

[neanderthal]

Most people's views change with new information. Your fetid rotting brain doubles down despite a veritable fucking chorus of new information.

[neanderthal]

So, some of you may remember, I used to be on Facebook, a long time ago. And Myspace and all the other socials. I ended up not using Myspace at all. And got banned from Facebook for "not using my real name or birthday." (i'm pretty sure it was some conservatard complaining about my political rants that reported me) Apparently Feb 30 doesn't go over well, even though it accepted it initially. Or was that myspace?

I had signed up for twitter a long time ago (13 years?) and kept a low profile but just got banned.

I posted

"it's a simple choice
(box with a checkmark) Vote for America, or

(Hollow box) vote for Trump."

And now when I try to open twitter/ X it closes autotragically.

Might be a shadow ban where i'm suspended for a few days. Might be permanent. Cest la vie.

Shoulda got the Swathi honeys digits that I was talking to before I self immolated, but it is what it is. Maybe I will somehow connect with her when I go to South Africa next year. Maybe I won't. Eswatini is full of gorgeous women. So is Mzansi (South Africa.)

[Yw-slayer]

I have some hope that his views might change (albeit only slightly) if he were to actually read the book.

[Rare White Ape]

After thousands of pages, your views won’t ever change?

If anything my views have moved even further left than what they were when this forum first opened its doors some 10 years ago.

Therefore, they have changed.

I detect a similar change among my peers, but I cannot speak for them.

[Rare White Ape]

I have some hope that his views might change (albeit only slightly) if he were to actually read the book.

Do you want to point out the irony or do you want me to do it?

Or, third option: should we just leave it hanging in thrilling suspense?

[Tom Servo]

So, some of you may remember, I used to be on Facebook, a long time ago. And Myspace and all the other socials. I ended up not using Myspace at all.

Oh, so *you're* the reason I got laid off from MySpace. :/



I had signed up for twitter a long time ago (13 years?) and kept a low profile but just got banned.

I posted

"it's a simple choice
(box with a checkmark) Vote for America, or

(Hollow box) vote for Trump."

And now when I try to open twitter/ X it closes autotragically.

Might be a shadow ban where i'm suspended for a few days. Might be permanent. Cest la vie.

Shoulda got the Swathi honeys digits that I was talking to before I self immolated, but it is what it is. Maybe I will somehow connect with her when I go to South Africa next year. Maybe I won't. Eswatini is full of gorgeous women. So is Mzansi (South Africa.)

If you want to DM me your handle on there, I can see if it's still up. I have a feeling this is more related to just general incompetence and a dodgy app than it is a ban.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Most people's views change with new information. Your fetid rotting brain doubles down despite a veritable fucking chorus of new information.

My views certainly changed with "new to me" information! Perhaps not changed as if reverse direction change, but eye opening kinda change? In retrospect, I was just as surprised to see myself altered by the System and Christianity. ;) I think both are similar in a way that they're both about relationships. They teach how to improve myself so I can improve my relationships..., but of course life isn't about popularity contest, we just can't have great relationships with everybody. Interestingly, both Doc Love and Jesus mentioned nothing about race relations... just mostly about human relationships.

Once we all figure out how human relationships are suppose to work, race relations will hopefully no longer be an issue.

[Tom Servo]

I think the thing for me is that yes, you do change your views on "new to me" information", but it's very selective. You'll do it when it's what you want to hear, you will willfully disregard evidence to anything that is not what you want to hear. Similarly, you talk about how everything you've followed is just about exploring human relationships but you also seem very choosy about that. You've said a few times now that we'll be fine if Trump is elected, and it's true, you and I will probably be fine. But a lot of people won't be, in very real and disruptive ways. They have literally been bragging about changing the status of people who are here legally so they can deport 20 million people, with part of that having essentially concentration camps on the border. Your empathy isn't there. It does actually seem like you have an exceptionally hard time putting yourself in other people's shoes.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I think the thing for me is that yes, you do change your views on "new to me" information", but it's very selective. You'll do it when it's what you want to hear, you will willfully disregard evidence to anything that is not what you want to hear. Similarly, you talk about how everything you've followed is just about exploring human relationships but you also seem very choosy about that. You've said a few times now that we'll be fine if Trump is elected, and it's true, you and I will probably be fine. But a lot of people won't be, in very real and disruptive ways. They have literally been bragging about changing the status of people who are here legally so they can deport 20 million people, with part of that having essentially concentration camps on the border. Your empathy isn't there. It does actually seem like you have an exceptionally hard time putting yourself in other people's shoes.

How do you know my empathy’s not there?

There are simply multiple and conflicting things to empathize about. Empathy for Israeli hostages and empathy for civilians in Gaza… which side should we pick? I honestly don’t know, all I want is to find ways for wars to end, thru peace talks to outright just win it, rather than dragging it out forever.

US politics is kind of in a forever war mode too. If the issues are really that black and white, this race shouldn’t be this close. Do you honestly believe nearly half of Americans are white supremacists and those FREEDUMB loving folks wanted a dictator to end democracy?

I really wish it’s Bernie Sanders fighting the establishment than Trump, but too bad Bernie is too honest and doesn’t know how to play the game like Trump…

But honestly don’t know how to end this political civil war in US, so all I can do is to pray for our nation.

[Tom Servo]

I say it's not there because of the way you react to concerns about abortion access and what will happen to people here legally but may not be citizens. You literally claim we'll all be fine when lots of people will very much not be, and you just do not seem to be able to put that together.


Do you honestly believe nearly half of Americans are white supremacists and those FREEDUMB loving folks wanted a dictator to end democracy?

You lemme know where I said that and then I'll answer that question.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I have some hope that his views might change (albeit only slightly) if he were to actually read the book.

Interesting. Amazon review has it at 4.6 stars!!! Okay, based on some of the reviews I read, I'll give it a try.

I still think it would be better to use the word deconstruct rather than dismantle..., based on one of the top reviews, perhaps it is a book trying to deconstruct and analyze it...?

With regard to 'white privilege', is that really universally true though? If we have a white homeless person and a black homeless person begging for money, will the white homeless persons consistently get more money because he's white? I just think the privileges tend to be because they are at a higher eco/social status. Put them all at the SAME level, will the color of their skin still work in their favor?

[Crazed_Insanity]

I say it's not there because of the way you react to concerns about abortion access and what will happen to people here legally but may not be citizens. You literally claim we'll all be fine when lots of people will very much not be, and you just do not seem to be able to put that together.



You lemme know where I said that and then I'll answer that question.

Half of the nation is voting for Trump... a candidate you believe is a white supremacist, or at least a sympathizer and aspired to become a dictator. Why is it that half of America is voting for that guy to end our democracy? This is not a question posed specifically for you, but for anti-trumpers in general. Are half of America really nuts?!?!?

Clearly half of America is upset about something.

Abortion fight was really stupid, but at least Trump didn't ban it. Plus, it was a supreme court that stirred the pot that didn't really need stirring. Like I've said before, State court should follow Supreme Courts lead and let that issue go down to the city level... or better yet, to the individual level. This is really none of the government's business.

We can sympathize with poor immigrants as well... however, who's there to sympathize with the poor 'white' folks who supposedly had lots of privileges?

Clearly we do have a border issue or else Kamala wouldn't bother visiting the border, right? Blame the inflation on Trump? When he's only been in office for 4 years?!?!?

When average Americans can live affordable lives, then I'm sure they can feel more sympathies for immigrants. When a small town in Ohio ends up with a sudden influx of immigrants, even if the immigrants don't eat pets, do you think such transition can be smooth? Should that really be America's immigration policy? Just take as many immigrants as possible when we can't even take good care of our average citizens?

[MR2 Fan]

it isn't "half of the nation", not even close.

[Tom Servo]

To stick to the abortion thing: Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortion rights. That left it up to the individual level. Trump, in concert with McConnell, worked to a) deny Obama a supreme court pick and b) Trump specifically picked supreme court justices who were going to overturn Roe v. Wade. The status quo is what you literally say you think we should have, but now Trump, who has stated it was his goal to stack the court in a way that would overturn Roe v. Wade, succeeded in that. Like, he took the situation that you consider ideal and fucked it up, but you're somehow defending it, or at least claiming it's no big deal. And I guarantee you, for a lot of people, it's a huge deal. Hence, your lack of empathy. It doesn't affect you. In fact, you even point out specifically that it *shouldn't* affect you and be an individual decision, but now that it's not, you're like "meh, it's not really a thing, who cares?"

I encourage you to read up on the situation that Springfield has been in and where it is now. It was a dying town. Yes, an influx of new people, immigrants or no, will alter a town. Just ask people who've lived in Truckee, CA for years. They also are going through growing pains, big ones, only in this case it's rich tech-bros from the bay area coming up and buying up all the housing. You don't see Trump and Vance criticizing that, though, do you? Trump in a debate saying "they're taking up all your homes, they're crowding the ski resorts." Do you think maybe there's a reason Trump and Vance keep focusing on towns where the non-white immigrant population has gone up vs. ones like Truckee? In the meantime, you're still maintaining this idea that this influx of people from Haiti is somehow ruining the town when literally the entire town keeps saying "things are fine, would you please stop stirring up shit about us so we can go back about our business? The only thing that's been disruptive is you dumb assholes trying to politicize us and now we've got regular bomb threats to our schools and government buildings." The Republican mayor of Springfield and Republican governor of Ohio have both asked Trump *not* to visit there and to stop with the rhetoric. They're not crying out for their big orange savior, they're telling him he's full of shit and just stirring things up and to just go away and leave them the hell alone.

Finally, I asked you to point out where I said something because I know how much you love putting words in my mouth. Instead of pointing out where I said it, you're just trying to stuff the words back in my mouth. Please stop doing that.

[Crazed_Insanity]

1st off, apologies for putting words in your mouth.

I’ll just say that this election is not a land slide, American voters are split nearly 50/50. I really don’t feel like picking a side fighting this unwinable forever politically war. I can understand where each side is coming from and both sides have their flaws.

Is the abortion debate really a worthy cause for us to focus on? As far as I know, abortion rate is steadily declining. Conservatives stirred this pot purely to piss liberals off using them newly appointed Supreme Court judges. In the end, I’m pretty sure it will come back to bite GOP in the ass.

As for immigration and border wall, forget about anything specifics then, but when average Americans are having a hard time affording food, rent, healthcare, they probably won’t feel all that charitable with new immigrants.

Fix our nations economy 1st, before coming up with aid packages for foreigners and foreign nations. This is not because conservatives lack empathy, it’s called responsibility! You take care of your family 1st before you tend to your neighbors!

[Tom Servo]

Well, therein lies the rub, right? People can't afford food, rent, and healthcare, but that's not because of immigrants. It's because we have a fucked up healthcare system, and tons of property is being bought up as investments by companies or people doing short-term rentals on places like AirBnB.

It reminds me of this cartoon that goes around cycling circles a lot (and I think was modified from an original, but I've only ever seen this version). It's got three people sitting around a dining room table. The car guy has a plate piled up with cookies. The pedestrian guy has one cookie. The cyclist has no cookies,. The car guy is telling the pedestrian something like "careful, that cyclist is trying to steal your cookie."

Trump and Vance are just blaming a whole class of millions of people for something that is not their fault and whipping up anger and hatred towards them. Trump just invoked the same act used to put Japanese people in internment camps during WWII. This is very not good.

[Crazed_Insanity]

You only see the flaws of Trump for some reason.

Are you sure Trump is the only car guy in America? Or maybe he’s simply using that lame tactic to win votes that he needs?

IMHO, Biden, Obama, W were all working for the car guy too. The ultimate car guy definitely does not approve of Trump. This is why W/Cheney would endorse Harris than Trump.

Trump knows what games to play to win votes in this democracy. Will he really be a Hitler? I don’t know.

Although most military folks I’ve talked to all love Trump, but I doubt they love Trump more than this nation. Not to mention we have 2nd amendment. I can’t say for sure what’s Trumps true motive, but I have faith it won’t be easy for an American Hitler to grab power.

I’m hoping Trump is just doing what he has to do to win votes to beat the ultimate car guy.

After he beat the ultimate car guy, will he do better? I’m not that confident, but assuming he couldn’t be a dictator, hopefully he can pave the way for a better America. If the ultimate car guy wins(Harris), then it’s status quo. Meaning not enough cookies for everybody for 4 more years.

[Tom Servo]

I meant that there are lots of car guys and they are pitting the peds and the cyclists against each other while hording the rest. It was an allegory for blaming immigrants for problems caused by hedge fund managers and investors. It was not specific to Trump, what was specific to Trump is that he is specifically targeting immigrants to blame them for problems they don't cause, and that he's more than willing to literally gin up pogroms to enrich and empower himself.

[neanderthal]

Oh, so *you're* the reason I got laid off from MySpace. :/

:| :thppt:



If you want to DM me your handle on there, I can see if it's still up. I have a feeling this is more related to just general incompetence and a dodgy app than it is a ban.


Turned out it was temporary. But you a legend!!!

[FaultyMario]

The version of the cookies cartoon I've seen most is Rupert Murdoch telling a blue collar worker that the immigrant is trying to rob him of his one cookie while he hoards the rest of the jar.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Divide and conquer is the name of the game by the western colonial powers. Pit India against Pakistan, north/South Korea, China/Taiwan, even East/ west Germany. However, Germans are too smart to remain divided. However at least Soviet Union was broken up.

Anyway, in a way, I’m glad car guys are fracturing too! The traditional ICE guys vs the EV guys. If they remain united, there’s no way for us bikers and walkers to have any chance against them.

Bernie Sanders was too nice and doesn’t know how to beat the car guys at their own game. Trump at least has a shot.

However, like I said, I’m not 100% confident Trump and Musk will remain good for the nation. Yeah, best case scenario is that Trumps really born again and doing God’s will, but worst case scenario is that the selfish bastard really is aiming to be a dictator. As for Musk, he should remain focus on building things instead of running for government. USA is not a company.

We know status quo isn’t working either, but at least we’re dragging along…

I honestly don’t know which path to take. If it was vote for Bernie, it’d be so much easier for me

[Tom Servo]

Trump already had a shot. Why would you think he'd be any different this time?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Like I said before, last time Trump was in office, world was more peaceful… and I’ve confirmed with some military friends of mine… it’s not just Tulsi Gabbard making bogus claims. Soldiers like Trump as commander in chief. They claimed Trump allowed them to actually win things whereas status quo leadership tend to hold them back. Thus creating forever stalemates.

Dictators around the world were probably a bit more scared of trumps unpredictable craziness as well.

Plus, I do recall I leased a 2017 Honda EV anticipating saving lots of gas money, but gas prices actually dropped during my lease period… making my cheap EV lease not as worthwhile…

If he could once again reduce inflation and stop the wars, I’d be very happy about that. However, I’m not counting on it though. However, with Kamala, we can count on status quo…

[Yw-slayer]

Kamala poll numbers dropping, well done Billi clap clap

[MR2 Fan]

FEMA having difficulty providing aid to North Carolina due to armed militias threatening them...Jesus Christ.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/us/fema-helene-north-carolina-reported-threats

This is the problem, we play nice to extremists, don't actually do enough to stop the threat of Trump and his goons, and this kind of shit will keep happening.

[Tom Servo]

Like I said before, last time Trump was in office, world was more peaceful… and I’ve confirmed with some military friends of mine…

And like I pointed out before, the US was involved in essentially the same number of military conflicts before Trump got into office as it was when he left office, and the two main conflicts now we are not directly involved in, but hey, some military friends of yours had vibes so I guess I stand corrected?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Look, I don't really know who's correct, there are lots of mis-information out there. All I know is what I heard from my friends, who were involved in actual combat on the ground. I can't even say they represent the majority of the views in the military, but at least it's direct information from them... not from CNN nor FOX. They all mostly sounded like Tulsi...

The 2 wars we have going on now, although we are not directly involved with our soldier's lives, but we are pretty much involved in all other ways. Without the US, those 2 wars cannot possibly last this long.

Fact is that Putin never invaded anybody during Trump's time. Was that just coincidence or maybe there are some reason? He invaded Crimea in 2014... and then Ukraine war in 2022... why did he stay put during Trump's time? Or maybe Obama and Biden did something to provoke Putin? NATO BS is the most obvious reason.

As for war in Israel, that's a lot more unclear and messy to me. But fact is that terrorists didn't attack Israel and capture hostages during Trump's time. If they had done this during Trump's time in office, surely American forces will be involved to extract US hostages back and the entire world will be mad at US rather than Israel, but the attack should end more quickly rather than dragging on like this. I think the 'terrorists' knew that. So the current situation is mostly orchestrated to make Israel look bad. They don't care if they're sacrificing their own brothers and sisters. Their intention was to make Israel look bad and increase antisemitism around the world...

Quite honestly, I'm not sure how or what Trump could do to make things better in the middle east, that's why I hesitate to vote for this crazy president. However, I'm sure those terrorists will be more scared of Trump than Kamala.

[Yw-slayer]

Lol at the guy on this forum thinking "If it were trump he would have sent seal team six in after those 1200 people."

[Crazed_Insanity]

FEMA having difficulty providing aid to North Carolina due to armed militias threatening them...Jesus Christ.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/us/fema-helene-north-carolina-reported-threats

This is the problem, we play nice to extremists, don't actually do enough to stop the threat of Trump and his goons, and this kind of shit will keep happening.

What can we do to stop bomb threats or mass shooting threats? I agree we also play too nice to mass shooters in general. However, I'm not sure if Trump is the root of our problems. He's just the symptoms.

[Tom Servo]

I can't believe I have to say this, but correlation does not equal causation.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Lol at the guy on this forum thinking "If it were trump he would have sent seal team six in after those 1200 people."

When American hostages are involved, if I were president, I'd send in whatever it takes.

I'm pretty sure Trump would do the same... rather than wait this long for Israeli forces to do the job.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I can't believe I have to say this, but correlation does not equal causation.

I understand that, that's why I can't really bring myself to vote for him.

However, I do really like the correlation.

[Tom Servo]

Lol at the guy on this forum thinking "If it were trump he would have sent seal team six in after those 1200 people."

It's bizarre, right? He both thinks Trump is the peaceful one but is also like "we have an elite commando force just like in the movies and Trump would totally use it."

[Tom Servo]

I understand that, that's why I can't really bring myself to vote for him.

However, I do really like the correlation.

I'm so tired. We keep going in circles on this. We've done yet another lap around "but immigrants are disrupting towns" "except the towns say they aren't" "but forever wars" "the ones we're involved in we stayed involved in during Trump's presidency" "well what about other wars that we're not involved in" "there's no causation there" "I know that, that's why I brought it up."

We've been through this over and over and every single time you just change the subject when you can't justify the last thing you said. I do not know why you continue to do it and I do not know why I continue to respond.

If you'd like to know my response to whatever you will write back to this, just look back a month or two and I'm sure you'll find an applicable one.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It kinda like the Cold War. It's so intimidating and scary that people don't want to make any moves to cause mutual destruction... and the consequence of that is peace. Of course if somebody is crazy and stupid enough to start something, then it'd be end of the world!!!

Trump is just crazier and more unpredictable than other establishment types. This dictator wannabe also knows how other dictators think and he has no problems flexing his muscles and screwing with them...

I really think terrorists and dictators are more afraid of Trump than any other US presidents.

Just take the congratulatory call he made directly to the Taiwanese president for her winning another term post election. No other US president would dare to that to mess with official US's position of strategic ambiguity with China. Seriously, what kind of BS was that? Have your cake with China and eat it too?

Besides the Taiwan issue, there are bunch of seemingly 'crazy' things trump did later on adopted by Biden later on too. See the border issue... is it really a non-issue or problems have really escalated that even Kamala now needs to pay the border a visit?

To be fair, it wasn't trump who started messing with Roe vs Wade. That was really a dumb move by the newly appointed Justices. There are also bunch of stupid crazy things Trump said that made no sense, but at least he talks like a normal rambling person rather than a politically correct rambling person. ;) Look, I have no problems with political correctness with words, it's certainly good to not speak in ways that offend people, but I just wish dems can be daring enough to state the truth. Why call that "inflation reduction act"? Be bold and just call it for what it really is! Identifying it as inflation reducing doesn't make it inflation reducing.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that looking back at all past modern presidents, I am the most happy with Trump's handling of foreign affairs and foreign interventions. If Trump really did not directly cause a more peaceful world, I still do like the correlation of those 4 years!

My main problem with him is that I don't really trust him... especially seeing those working close to him all turned against him... that's why I don't really want to vote for him.

Likewise I don't trust Kamala too.

So you guys can pick whoever you want. I'm sitting this one out.

Vote Kamala if you want to steady as she goes slowly into an iceberg...

Vote Trump if you want a course change... he might be able to make this ship great again or he just might steer it directly into another iceberg!

I will leave it up to your capable hands. ;)

I just hope next time around, we'll have better candidates.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm so tired. We keep going in circles on this. We've done yet another lap around "but immigrants are disrupting towns" "except the towns say they aren't" "but forever wars" "the ones we're involved in we stayed involved in during Trump's presidency" "well what about other wars that we're not involved in" "there's no causation there" "I know that, that's why I brought it up."

We've been through this over and over and every single time you just change the subject when you can't justify the last thing you said. I do not know why you continue to do it and I do not know why I continue to respond.

If you'd like to know my response to whatever you will write back to this, just look back a month or two and I'm sure you'll find an applicable one.

Look, we just cannot agree on somethings so lets just agree to disagree.

Take Jordan Peterson for example. You think he's a bad guy and I think he's a good guy. It's possible that we're both correct... that you saw only bad qualities and I saw only good qualities? Any normal human being will have both good and bad qualities. We also all like and dislike the same things due to our own reasons. We can't really justify something for other people. I really think political orientation is just like sexual orientation. If we see things differently, then that's that. No way we can convince each other to see things the other way.

Now the point is, can American conservatives and liberals agree to disagree and still work together for the greater good? Or should we continue to dwell and bicker about how few cookies we have all the while the cookie jar of the 'establishment' continued to be filled with endless # of cookies? And they continue to feed us various different kinds of BS cookie monsters for us to vote on? For sure our democracy cannot work forever this way...

Like I said in previous post, I will not 'interfere' with the 2024 election. So I will leave it to your capable hands. (No republican can convince me to vote Trump and no dem can convince me to vote Kamala.)

The fact that the polls are so close at this stage shows we don't really have a perfect candidate. I pray God's coin toss will help America move forward and be better in the future. Whoever ends up in the WH, I pray that he or she will do the best she or he can do for our country and maybe the world too.

I'm sure we're all tired about this. Rest assured that Trump won't have my vote, okay? Let's just move on... if you have any good things about Kamala you wish to tell me, you let me know. We don't have to talk about Trump if you don't want to. I'm seriously not 'defending' or supporting Trump. I was merely trying to show you the good parts of Trump that I saw. If you disagree..., then just forget about it. I don't need you to vote Trump because I won't even vote trump! :p

We're both not voting for Trump, so that's that. We don't need to see exactly eye to eye about Trump.

If you need me to vote Kamala, then you need to convince me why she's so good. I'm not going to vote for her because of Trump. I'm really tired of the lesser evil game.

[George]

FEMA having difficulty providing aid to North Carolina due to armed militias threatening them...Jesus Christ.

North Carolina, where I lived for twenty-six and a half years (well, that includes four years in South Carolina, but same thing, pretty much), can be a backwards shithole at times. There are some cool places and people for sure, as in a lot of the American south, but damn, the stories I hear from there on a very regular basis make me wonder why they can't figure things out.

Just this morning, my wife shared a Facebook post with me from one of her friends in North Carolina who was at the NC DMV that's just like I remember. It hasn't changed a bit. Hell, he's probably still there four hours later as I post this.

https://i.postimg.cc/G2Q2B83n/DMV.png

I used to take a half-day off work (it was what you did when it was DMV time) to go stand in hot summer lines standing on a hard floor with no chairs and in a tight, back-and-forth line divided by stanchions and velvet ropes where we couldn't even spread out from each other. And I mean for HOURS, just standing there, and this was before smart-phones, so everyone was just standing there with nothing to do except glare at the too few employees who moved like sloths. You might find a discarded newspaper to read or bring a paperback book, but if not, you just looked at the stains on the ceiling tiles and smelled the cigarette smoke and watched traffic whiz by outside.

I see they have chairs now in the picture above, but I am telling you that the DMV office on Independence Boulevard near East Mecklenburg High School did not have them in the 1980s and '90s. You had to stand up in a line for hours.

And I remember seeing a bunch of the old-style multiple line telephones - with those big clear plastic buttons you'd push down to pick up another call - on a counter behind the workers with every line flashing, indicating someone was calling, but none of the Pattys and Selmas working there would (or could) answer any of the phones due to the never-ending crush of angry customers standing there sweating in the humidity.

And this isn't related to the current election, but still very much a political topic: what is up with the $7.25 minimum wage in Republican states? Do they just not want to see their hardest working citizens have even a slight chance at getting ahead in life?

Again, just this morning, my wife (who just returned from a trip to North Carolina yesterday) told me her friend's daughter makes just $15 per hour as a Certified Nurse Assistant. Our sixteen-year-old daughter makes $16 plus tips as a pizza cook! Minimum wage here is $14.42. Our kids and their friends all have money because they work. What the hell is wrong in the south where even adults working full time can't make what part-time high school kids make out here?

I feel like (most of) the western states are to the east as western Europe is to the USA. I mean, this map, with a few exceptions, looks like a map of the American Civil War!

https://www.nelp.org/app/uploads/2017/07/Map-of-21-states-stuck-at-7.25-01-1-890x591.jpg

https://civilwarshelbyanderson.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/6/1/40614171/154780028.png

Stuff like this is why I just can't watch much news, other than local news for traffic and weather, anymore. Seeing what goes on in our country and the world most of the time just makes me angry and sad.

I never thought I'd become a "damn liberal," but here I am.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm kinda conflicted with the min wage thing.

1st off, it's a 'federal min wage' set by the Federal government. So the anger really shouldn't be directed only at those red states, right? Plus, there are some red states that have slightly higher min wages than set by the federal government?

So the anger shouldn't be that partisan, but should be directed at our political leaders at both parties.

Also, take the recent strike going on at Boeing for example. Workers wanted pension back and 40% raise for the next 4 years. Boeing management refused.

Is it really because the Boeing management is making a crapload of money right now?

There's no discussion about how to improve quality and safety. Why should workers feel entitled to raises when you assemble planes with doors that can blow out and tools forgotten inside the planes? Everyone is so money focused and they've lost sight of what's truly important. Boeing is in such financial distress now, new CEO is ready to cut 10% of workers company wide. Hope I won't end up on the chopping block...

Anyway, at least so far, WA DMV services had been super quick, at least compared to CA DMV! Glad I never had to experience NC DMV... :p

[Rare White Ape]

George, I shared that exact map of the civil war states in the COVID-19 thread way back in the day, as it was a near perfect match of early infection rates per county.

A whole lotta infections in the south!

[Tom Servo]

I get a little worried this thread goes dead when we don't bat around Billi like my cat bats around a toy. Part of it is that an overall feeling that the vast majority of people are non-lunatics and we're in the worst possible timeline for political discussions, but believe it or not I am trying to drag things into mainstream discourse.

[neanderthal]

Liberals are too ... soft isn't the word.

I think we need to go hard after the liars in congress, the supreme court, (and in general,) the Jan 6 idiots, the media, the ban books mafia, the trans bathroom militia, the anti abortion but also anti school lunch, anti expanded healthcare, anti WIC, anti national child care idiots, etc.

But, I believe women who were born as men have no right to play competitive sports against women born as women.

[Crazed_Insanity]

But, I believe women who were born as men have no right to play competitive sports against women born as women.

Surely somebody will find that statement discriminatory and hateful!

There’s just no way to make everyone happy!

IMHO, Dems just need to have a spine! Say what they mean and mean what they say! Like I said earlier, the inflation reduction act was a ‘lie’! Why not call it what it truly is? Like the green new deal or something like that.

Anyway, I suppose puppets tend not to have spines and folks with actual spines won’t usually become other people’s puppets.

As we have clearly seen for the past several years, President Biden never had real power. Party had to do some maneuvering to help him win the nomination back in 2020. Now in 2024, although he wants to seek a 2nd term, party denied his wishes and decided to go with another puppet. Ironically all these behind the scenes maneuvering was done to save democracy!

[Tom Servo]

Nobody has any right to play competitive sports. As far as I know, there's no document anywhere declaring anybody has any right to do that. So....strong stance there?

[Tom Servo]

Oof, this actually does really bum me out. It came right after a person I know posted a screed about how "sick" the left are because of transgender care performed in hospitals.

Is this a problem? I know mk will bring up the entirely unrelated thing about Spain and the paralympics, but do we have an issue with men going through gender affirmation surgeries just so they can win at sports? Is this a thing?

I argue it isn't. It hasn't been, and it won't be, and even trying to take a stand on it is a little gross.

In the meantime, I have two friends who came out as trans, and two friends whose kids have also come out as trans. This whole "I accept them, but in this case I don't" thing feels like it has a lot of echoes throughout history, and one I'm really unnerved that we seem to be repeating.

[FaultyMario]

At a deep philosophical level, i think anything that allows a person the power and liberty to transcend her own mortality and the suffering caused by living everyday life should be rights granted at birth.

However, this here post is no deep philosophical essay. So, in short: no, no one has a right to play a particular game against a particular team or player, and yes health coverage should be universal

[mk]

It wasn't unrelated, it was the dishonesty you don't believe is ever happening.

Is right here a right of an individual to force one's right over others?

[Tom Servo]

It was absolutely unrelated. Trying to compare a bad group of people to another with no actual connection is just vilifying an "other" group when they literally have no connection. "One time some people were jerks, so now I get to apply it to this other group of people even though there's no evidence they have also been jerks."

One time a Finnish dude was being a dick fat shaming people. Guess what? I don't think all Finnish dudes are dicks.

Go be shitty somewhere else.

[Crazed_Insanity]

IMH philosophical thinking, let’s put transgender rights aside for a moment, if women/feminists want equality with men, then they should compete in the men’s leagues. Having women’s league is essentially admitting men and women are different.

Best way to solve this is to just have an ultimate league where the best person wins.

Of course we could also have sub-leagues/categories… Boy Scout, Girl Scout, black men’s league, white women’s league, trans league, etc.

Sub leagues for specific groups should be respected, but if you’re aiming to be top level performer, then you join the ultimate league where everyone can join. If a person can make it in the NBA, NFL or F1, then race and gender shouldn’t matter.

[Rare White Ape]

Eh.

Trans women are women. If they want to play a sport at any professional level they have to earn their way in just like the rest.

The number of examples anywhere in the world where it has been newsworthy to my count is less than 5. The number of examples where I can see his being a problem is 0.

Is fairness an issue? Maybe, but that’s for each sport’s governing body to decide. So far it has all been working to everyone’s satisfaction, EXCEPT for a small minority of loudmouths who are bordering on bigotry with their protestations.

[neanderthal]

I agree that trans women are women.

My only gripe is when they want to play competitive sports. Biologically men are physically superior to women. We have more muscle mass at every weight level you want to compare, and have other physical advantages.


The US national womens soccer team was beaten by a local clubs u15 side. It wasn't even close.
There's video of Wrexham old boys playing a pro women's team, and the women get obliterated. By 50 year old men.
There's even a video of one professional mens soccer player playing against a team of women, and he basically runs right through them, dribbling and juking his way past them like he's just practising.
There's umpteen videos of women challenging men to fight and the woman getting thrashed by a smaller man than her.
Even in tennis, when they play mixed doubles, the men almost always serve an ace when they are serving to a woman.
The best female fighter, who boxed and did kickboxing, and had won multiple titles in both against women, was beaten by an amateur kickboxer, who was less skilled than her, but was pretty clearly faster and stronger, even though they appeared to be about the same weight.
Serena Williams, arguably the best female tennis player, possibly best female athlete of all time, said on Lettermans show that if she played a man in the pro series (Andy Murray) she would lose 6-0, 6- 0 in about 5 to 10 minutes.
And when she was younger, she did play a man. Karsten Braasch played and beat Serena, and was challenged by Venus immediately after and he beat her too right then and there. 98 Australia open.
My favorite events in the Olympics are the mixed relays. There's a mixed 4X 400m when the polish anchor (a lady) gets the baton about 50 meters ahead of the rest of the other anchors, all men. She comes in 6th, I think.
There's even videos of a WNBA player playing pickup against some random dude in the gym, and he spanks her so hard. She'd get by him, but he'd catch up with superior speed and deflect/ block/ interfere with her shot.

There is a clear physical difference between men and women. Men are stronger, and faster pound for pound against women. This is why I am against trans women playing against "regular" women in competitive sports. I don't care about rec league sports.

[Rare White Ape]

I don’t think any of that has anything to do with politics. It’s up to the sporting bodies to decide.

When it splashes over into political discourse it becomes bigotry and dovetails in with people being against trans healthcare and shared bathrooms.

[Tom Servo]

One thing notable out of that list is that not a single bit of it had anything to do with trans athletes.

[Yw-slayer]

8-9 monkeys have recently died at Hong Kong Park, which has a mini-zoo of sorts. it's about 5 minutes away from where I live.

I did not find out about it via the SCMP or local press (who obviously reported on it). Rather, Associated Press ran an article on it. It was then somehow picked up by CBS, and then plastered over MSN, as well as CBS's X account, Facebook, etc.

The CBS article was even updated around 2 minutes ago! https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/hong-kong-zoo-monkey-deaths-including-critically-endangered-tamarin/

"A section of Hong Kong's oldest zoo was still closed Tuesday after nine monkeys, including three from a critically endangered species, died for reasons that remained a mystery, officials said."

HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[Crazed_Insanity]

None of those dead monkeys have anything to do with trans athletes as well!!!

[mk]

It was absolutely unrelated. Trying to compare a bad group of people to another with no actual connection is just vilifying an "other" group when they literally have no connection. "One time some people were jerks, so now I get to apply it to this other group of people even though there's no evidence they have also been jerks."

One time a Finnish dude was being a dick fat shaming people. Guess what? I don't think all Finnish dudes are dicks.

Go be shitty somewhere else.

A straw man.

[sandydandy]

Not sure if it’s been discussed, but I have to talk about Barack Obama’s recent message to black voters, and am curious to read the opinions of the black members here, (of which I only know of two).

I’m seeing a lot of backlash online from black people, including Stephen A. Smith, who have interpreted it as Obama talking down to them or telling them how they should think. Almost blatantly accusing right leaning, or people on the fence, as being misogynistic for not getting behind Harris. While it’s not as bad as Biden’s, “if you don’t vote for me you ain’t black”, it still does kinda leave a bad taste in the mouth.

I don’t know what the numbers are in terms of percentages of black people voting for Harris vs Trump, or if this little lecture will even affect things that much…but was it really necessary for him to open his mouth like that?

[21Kid]

I'm so tired. We keep going in circles on this.You keep talking to Billi, what do you expect?

[Tom Servo]

Hey, when you're right you're right.

[Crazed_Insanity]

No pain, no gain! ;)

It'll probably be easier and more comfortable to stay inside our respective red and blue bubbles and just quit talking to each other.

However, I'll remain a Billi and will consistently be trying to prick them bubbles because I prefer living inside of the walls paid for by Mexico rather than to live inside political bubbles. I have the audacity to hope that America can be made great again, or at least be better than today! But 1st, them bubbles must go. I really think political bubbles are like cancerous tumors in our democracy...

Anyway, back to political discussion, recently heard Elon's concern about 2024 election... he's worried that after the defeat of Donald Trump, he'll be too old... and there will be nobody else like him from GOP... so GOP MAGA movement will be crushed... GOP establishment was already crushed by Trump... and so Dems will be able to continue to hold on to power after 2024... and effectively turning America blue permanently... making federal government just like CA government...

I suppose he's genuinely afraid that Federal regulations will become more and more like CA... and there won't be a red country for Tesla, SpaceX and X to escape to! Well, I suppose, to avoid further political persecution, he could escape to China? Surely that's red enough for him? ;)

Anyways, understandable concerns, but I kinda doubt Trump's defeat will be the end of our political polarization, or end of the conservatives. Plus, surely more for attempt to continue on the path Trump has carved out. Vivek and JD Vance don't look that bad to me. I actually would not mind giving them a chance for 4 years over Kamala. Main concern is that politicians often change or mutate, just like the actual Obama wasn't really the one I voted for. But anyway, I don't think Elon's concern will really happen. Just as I don't believe democracy will end if Trump wins. Scare tactics only work to make those bubbles bigger and stronger... and our nation more divided.

Ultimately, I just want to urge Americans to stop voting for somebody out of fear. Vote for somebody you actually want! Do you want Kamala? If yes, then by all means vote for her. Do you want Trump? If yes, then by all means vote for him. We should be free to choose to cast our vote how ever we wanted without the fear of questioning our blackness or the scoldings of Obama...

I personally don't want nobody this time around, so I won't vote. Simple as that. I won't be forced into playing a stupid game.

If the system continues to feed me crappy candidates, then it’s time we reform the system, rather than keep playing the stupid game.

[neanderthal]

One thing notable out of that list is that not a single bit of it had anything to do with trans athletes.

It was just meant to point out the disparity in strength, speed, power, etc in men vs women.

[Tom Servo]

It might be true, but also keep in mind that most people who transition do so with the help of hormones that can change that disparity. I still think this idea that we immediately have to ban trans women from sports is something that maybe we visit if/when it becomes a problem, and in the meantime feels really dang close to saying that women or homosexuals couldn't be effective soldiers, which is something we used to say before we realized how wrong we were.

In other news, Twitter changed its ToS:



All disputes related to these Terms or the Services, including without limitation disputes related to or arising from other users’ and third parties’ use of the Services and any Content made available by other users and third parties on the Services, will be brought exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those forums and waive any objection as to inconvenient forum.


Those of you who have been paying attention to some of Musk's lawsuits might recognize that that is the district where you are almost guaranteed to get Judge Reed O'Connor to preside over your case. Reed O'Connor has tens of thousands of dollars invested in Tesla and seems to enjoy ruling in Musk's favor, as he has been in the ongoing Media Matters trial in which he keeps making decisions that do not seem based at all on the law.

Notably, while Twitter did move its headquarters to Texas, it did so in the western district of Texas, not the northern part.

Isn't that fun.