Politics

[Yw-slayer]

What is this guy blathering on about? Twitter replacing bitcoin or something? What??!! Jeez.

[Cam]

From the NY Times Pitchbot

Ace. :lol:

[Crazed_Insanity]

What is this guy blathering on about? Twitter replacing bitcoin or something? What??!! Jeez.

No, of course not! Twitter’s main value is its popularity. Hopefully Elon won’t completely ruin that before it can become a more decentralized messaging system that can help speed up Bitcoin transactions…

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Elon will succeed. Jack Dorsey is developing a decentralized twitter rival himself... Are Musk and Dorsey still friends or had a fall out? I'm not really sure at this stage...

Anyway, I'm not really rooting for anyone here, but I am rooting for a decentralized social media that's immune to censorship and can also perhaps help bitcoin become more popular.

We don't need dictators like Xi and Putin, but we also don't need government agencies like NSA, CIA and particularly a Central Bank controlled by a bunch of other billionaires.

I do like NASA though. We can keep that! :p

Anyway, I'm not promoting we completely get rid of central bank, but we just need some competition or check and balances... same reason why we have anti-trust laws for companies.

[retsmah]

Hopefully Elon won’t completely ruin that before it can become a more decentralized messaging system that can help speed up Bitcoin transactions…

It's impossible for Bitcoin to move any faster. It's decentralized, there is no authority that can update it.

Anyway, I'm not offended by anything you've said. It's impossible to engage in conversation because the majority of what you're saying is complete nonsense, and when I've taken the time to respond to something you say you just ignore it and change the subject.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I’ve been told quite often that I don’t make sense. If you’d like me to elaborate about something specifically, I’d be happy to. I know I m not particularly eloquent and end up having many typos too…

Anyway, don’t meant to avoid anything, but regarding Bitcoin, if you are right that it’s impossible to make Bitcoin work, then Elon and Twitter will probably be doomed. I really don’t see how Elon can make Twitter better any other way.

As for Elon the person, a lot of people just don’t like him. Take the donation for world hunger for example. If UN made the call and Elon didn’t respond, he’d be damned. Now he did respond by selling Tesla stocks and as you can see he is still damned. The dude is all about himself! Showing off his wealth! What’s the glory of making such donation to UN and feed the poor?

There’s nothing you can do to make people like you. So main reason I like Elon is that he just does things and couldn’t care less what others think. Did he really have friends persuading him to not start SpaceX? To not waste his money? Or did he rewrite history?

[Tom Servo]

I'm only going by the again non-spoiler quote, but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[retsmah]

Ok for starters explain this:



As for Elon the person, a lot of people just don’t like him. Take the donation for world hunger for example. If UN made the call and Elon didn’t respond, he’d be damned. Now he did respond by selling Tesla stocks and as you can see he is still damned. The dude is all about himself! Showing off his wealth! What’s the glory of making such donation to UN and feed the poor?


What are you talking about? Are you claiming Musk sold Tesla stocks to give money to the UN? Because as far as I can tell the UN provided a plan for what they'd do with 6 billion dollars (https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/tech/elon-musk-world-hunger-wfp-donation/index.html) per his request, and instead Musk donated 5.7 billion dollars to himself (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-12/elon-musk-s-5-7-billion-mystery-gift-went-to-his-own-charity?srnd=premium-europe&leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg).

[retsmah]

From the NY Times Pitchbot (https://twitter.com/DougJBalloon/status/1631020593868083206):

This reminds me of this tiktok video (https://www.tiktok.com/@talialichtstein/video/7194196024078912773) on Louis CK being "cancelled"

[Crazed_Insanity]

Ok for starters explain this:



What are you talking about? Are you claiming Musk sold Tesla stocks to give money to the UN? Because as far as I can tell the UN provided a plan for what they'd do with 6 billion dollars (https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/tech/elon-musk-world-hunger-wfp-donation/index.html) per his request, and instead Musk donated 5.7 billion dollars to himself (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-12/elon-musk-s-5-7-billion-mystery-gift-went-to-his-own-charity?srnd=premium-europe&leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg).

Yes.

I suppose I incorrectly assumed the similar amount of money will go to UN. According to snopes, UN still hasn’t received the money yet. However at least he did actually sell the stocks and put it in a charity. Maybe he doesn’t want UN to waste his money? Maybe he can do the job himself? Maybe they are still negotiating? At least we haven’t seen any tweets from UN asking where’s the money?

Is there a way to get money back from your own charity? As far as I can tell, no, right? There can be tax write offs, but you can’t ever get the money back, right?

Anyway, at least when UN made the call, Elon responded. We’ll have to wait and see exactly how the foundation spends the money.

When homeless asks me for money, I don’t always unconditionally respond. I usually only offer to buy things they need. I don't think it's unreasonable for the donor want to make sure the money is really spent correctly? The only thing we know now is funding is secured and available. We can only make final judgement based on where that money will go?

UN made the call to all billionaires, not specifically to Elon only. As far as I know, only Elon responded by actually selling nearly $6 billion of his stocks. UN probably should just specifically ask McKenzie Scott. She would've quickly write a check with no questions asked. She probably didn't see the UN tweet. Bottomline is that as far as I know, exactly 0 billionaires answered the call. Elon sold his stocks for $6 billion in anticipation for something... and got a bad rap for that... as if he is the world most evil billionaire.

IMHO, he's just a dumbass loudmouth.

When pretty much everyone's profitting from Ukraine war, that stupid idiot is spending his own money giving Ukranians Starlink internet access. All for publicity stunt I suppose. Because he thinks he's all that? Maybe. However, I like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is really trying to be helpful. Even with his stupid ass submarine.

[Tom Servo]

This reminds me of this tiktok video (https://www.tiktok.com/@talialichtstein/video/7194196024078912773) on Louis CK being "cancelled"

Yeah, spot on. Dude's still getting nominated for Grammys and selling out shows, he's been thoroughly cancelled because I don't want to give my ticket money to a creep who jerks off in front of people without their permission. It's a total crisis.

[retsmah]

Elon responded by actually selling nearly $6 billion of his stocks.

Musk exercised stock options generating an absolutely enormous profit (https://fortune.com/2022/12/12/elon-musk-gave-5-7-billion-to-charity-last-year-where-it-went-was-a-mystery-until-now/). He would have been required to pay taxes on this. To avoid paying those taxes he put money into a fund that he controls.

At times you seem to understand that billionaires have far too much control over the U.S. government and economy, but then when it comes to Musk you think somehow he's going to follow the spirit of the rules and none of the money in his charity will in any way benefit him. For starters I'd suggest googling "soft power". Also note that almost half of the very small amount of money that fund has actually given away has gone to XPrize, which SpaceX could potentially compete for.

But anyway I'm officially done engaging with you at this point, you're like a misinformation fractal. I point out that you're wrong about Musk donating money to the UN, and instead of just recognizing that you were wrong your next post is talking about Starlink in Ukraine, that old Thai submarine story, McKenzie Scott, and a bunch of text about how giving money to his own fund is basically the same as giving it to the UN.

[Crazed_Insanity]

If you have information that Musk somehow funneled charity money back to himself personally, then I’m definitely wrong about him. For now, all I’m saying is that I’d give him the benefit of the doubt… in the mean time, let’s wait and see. Instead of jumping to conclusion that he’s most evil billionaire ever! No billionaire responded to UN’s call. So musk sold $6billion in Tesla stock expecting Tesla is good bankrupt soon? He really didn’t have to sell at all, right? Anyway, we will find out how he’ll spend the money and we’ll find out what kind of person he really is.

Trump really gave america nothing. We can still have plenty of hotel casinos and golf courses without trump. We don’t even really need Buffet nor Scott…

I really don’t think it’s possible to have a brand new EV company or rocket company without Musk. Just as you think it’s impossible for people to make Bitcoin work.

I think my view is annoying and offensive because I believe the good that came from Musk out weighed the bad. Our views regarding religion is the same as well. Most of you think Christianity is the most evil thing ever happened to mankind, but I see the opposite.

Anyway, let this be done so we can agree to disagree.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Switching gears a bit...

The main reason I didn't want Hillary was because I think she's gonna be very pro-war... of course I don't want Trump either, the dude lacks integrity and clearly he's a dictator wanna be and he has proven that. However, I think at least it was clear Trump wasn't part of the 'establishment' or at least the 'defense industry' portion of the establishment. As idiotic as he might've been while in WH, the world was actually relatively peaceful. US was not starting or financing any wars abroad. (Of course once he does become a dictator and realizes how much profit he could make from wars, I'm sure he'd be even worse...)


Now, rightly or wrongly, US is now financing another forever war in Ukraine. More on the horizon... one in the Middle East and another one with China.

Anyway, I don't think I want to re-elect Biden now, nor anyone he endorses. Putin is obvious nuts to start a war against Ukraine, but US really should stop selling them weapons. I say this for Taiwan as well. If US really wishes to declare war on somebody, go do it like what we did to Iraq. If you don't have to balls to fight directly, then stop having these proxy wars on other nation's soils while making profits out of them! Actually our government ends up deeper in deficit(taxpayer on the hook) while defense contractors and bankers get richer...

Only politician I still trust is Bernie Sanders. May he live a long life and be able to take control someday... sigh...

This is so unbelievable. Looks like our Matrix is repeating itself and getting ready for another world war?

Honestly did not think a global pandemic and another world war is even possible for our generation, but here we are...

Compare that to Elon Musk, I really don't give a fuck about Elon Musk. At least I know he's not profiting off of wars.

[21Kid]

Come to the dark side Hamster!!! We have cookies.

Seriously, I've clicked on one or two of his posts in the first few months after I ignored him, and his posts are always just as disconnected and obscure. I gave up on that years ago. It's not worth it since we can't communicate with him in good faith.

Save your time.

[Tom Servo]

There's this impression of a lack of object permanence. Like, you'll have a whole debate, eventually end up settling it, and then a week later he's back to arguing it again as if it never happened.

Of note, I'm not sure how many times I've been asked to say something good about Trump and something bad about Obama. You just get tired of it at some point.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Have I really asked you to name something good about Trump? I struggle to think of something good about Trump myself… other than he started no wars… :p

Anyway, we just have different political orientation. Therefore we end up seeing the same thing differently I guess.

Political science just isn’t absolute like physical science or mathematics. A math problem can be solved/proved analytically without need for any debate. Physical things in nature can also be proven with experiments without need to debate. However, social and political sciences are just not as easily provable… therefore opened for debate. I know I’m not always right, I know I could be wrong… even when it comes to my faith! Jesus could be bogus! However, I still have to live my life in accordance to what I believe to be right.

[neanderthal]

Have I really asked you to name something good about Trump? I struggle to think of something good about Trump myself… other than he started no wars… :p

Anyway, we just have different political orientation. Therefore we end up seeing the same thing differently I guess.

Political science just isn’t absolute like physical science or mathematics. A math problem can be solved/proved analytically without need for any debate. Physical things in nature can also be proven with experiments without need to debate. However, social and political sciences are just not as easily provable… therefore opened for debate. I know I’m not always right, I know I could be wrong… even when it comes to my faith! Jesus could be bogus! However, I still have to live my life in accordance to what I believe to be right.

Yes. You've said over and over again that he isn't completely bad.

You're the fuckwit that has said "i'm sure even Hitler was not completely bad, surely his family must have loved him." (paraphrased.)

You are NOT the intellectual you think you are. You're a rock dumb fuckwit that shouldn't be allowed on the internet unsupervised.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes. Go ahead. Let it out man! Hope this can help make you feel better!

Now, you’re definitely right. I’m not the smartest here nor the most intellectual. However, I am entitled to have my own views still. :p

[MR2 Fan]

Finally people are rightly calling out Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a fascist. He's weak, hates scrutiny (literally will ban anyone from his new conferences he doesn't agree with) and has gone basically unchallenged at this point (Florida Dems are even more useless), so I don't think he will get far in the presidential race. I just wish we could kick him out of Florida....it's going to be a long 3 years with him as governor

[Tom Servo]

Lol, that part that was non-spoilered.

Yes, you have asked me that many times. I normally go to his prison reform bill, though I tend not to give him a lot of credit for that, that was really more Kim Kardashian than him. I also think Operation Warp Speed was a good thing, though I kinda feel like almost any president would have done that in the face of a deadly pandemic.

So I guess now you can wait a while before asking again.

[Crazed_Insanity]

MR2, Can’t help you much since I’m not Floridian, but only thing I can do is pray I guess. :p Not just for DeSantis to die, but hope that a suitable leader may rise up to replace him or Trump…

I really think America has become like 2 cults. One under Trump and another one under some unknown hidden leader. Both sides are brainwashed so severely that if one ever dares talk about things that they disagree with, they’ll disown you. Even the likes of Jon Stewart can become a dumbass Nazi racist if he brings up the lab leak theory as a possibility!

Trump cult may be easier to fix because trump’s kool aid won’t last forever, but then again, they can always go back to drinking tea! :p

I think the problem on the left is that it’s worshipping science a bit too much… to the point that it’s blasphemous to accuse science possibly causing a pandemic.

Anyway, I shall remain in the cult of Christ. No matter how dumb or stupid I am, at least he will still love me! ;)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Lol, that part that was non-spoilered.

Yes, you have asked me that many times. I normally go to his prison reform bill, though I tend not to give him a lot of credit for that, that was really more Kim Kardashian than him. I also think Operation Warp Speed was a good thing, though I kinda feel like almost any president would have done that in the face of a deadly pandemic.

So I guess now you can wait a while before asking again.

Alright man! Thanks! I try to remember these objects as permanent and not ask you again!

If I do ask you again, then for sure I’m a dumb fuck like Neanderthal said! :p

[edit]You know, I have to admit my memory isn't the best. Wife would say amen to that... However, I think I must've asked you that question not for my benefit, but probably as an exercise to help you to be able to see the glass as... a little full? Yeah, I can't even see Trump as a glass half full myself. :p

Anyway, most of our options on the election ballot are just bunch of near empty glasses from my point of view... I'm just going thru the motion of voting, but things rarely change for the better... And fellow Americans are fighting and hating each other over bunch of empty blue and red glasses...

[retsmah]

I think the only reason DeSantis won't be president is that if he, or anyone else, wins the Republican primary Trump will run as an independent and split the conservative/MAGA vote.

[2ndMoparMan]

I think the only reason DeSantis won't be president is that if he, or anyone else, wins the Republican primary Trump will run as an independent and split the conservative/MAGA vote.

Ah, the Bull Mooose effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_(United_States,_1912)

[neanderthal]

I think the only reason DeSantis won't be president is that if he, or anyone else, wins the Republican primary Trump will run as an independent and split the conservative/MAGA vote.

Indeed. They (GQP) seem to be trying to push Trump out, but it's too late now, Trump won't leave without a fight (good) and he still has a considerable hold over a small (decently large) but vocal minority of their voters.
What will be interesting is how the fallout from the Faux News texts/ revelations plays out. People have now seen that Fucker Carlson et al were being disingenuous and deceitful about Jan 6 and Trump, the entire time.

One neighbor near my sisters house, who used to have a big ole Texas flag next to a big ole Trump flag, had taken them down and put up the stars and stripes, but he's recently put a small Trump 2024 sign up on his lawn.

[dodint]

Alex Jones went on the record in court that his show isn't to be taken seriously and it had no effect on his audience. I suspect the Fox News, who have no credibility, cannot fall from its current position.

Ironically I know MAGA people that thought Fox News wasn't conservative enough so they left for Newsmax, etc.

[retsmah]

A bit of, I think, good news: Biden is going to propose a new 40% capital gains tax bracket for gains over $1 million (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/biden-to-urge-25-billionaire-tax-big-levies-on-rich-investors?utm_content=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&leadSource=uverify%20wall).

Not sure what the odds are of that actually being implemented. We also need to close tax loopholes like 'buy, borrow, die' that allow billionaires to avoid capital gains taxes completely.

But, anyway, the president at least proposing increasing taxes on the extremely wealthy is a good step.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I just learned that even if Trump were convicted and in prison, he's still legally allowed to run for another term. :| So the only thing stopping him is not enough votes.

It's good for him to divide the conservative votes I guess.

Maybe then Bernie could also make a 4th party run? Wonder how would such 4 way race finish... :p

Regarding capital gains tax, as long as I don't realize that gain by not selling or do some fancy account to erase my gains, 40% capital gains tax would be meaningless. My hunch is that if Biden's proposal goes thru, surely the rich have already figured out how to avoid paying. If the rich were really hurt by this new proposed tax, most likely it won't pass and we can just blame GOP. This kind of things happens over and over again just like Billi asking Swervo the same questions over and over again.

[2ndMoparMan]

A bit of, I think, good news: Biden is going to propose a new 40% capital gains tax bracket for gains over $1 million (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/biden-to-urge-25-billionaire-tax-big-levies-on-rich-investors?utm_content=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&leadSource=uverify%20wall).

Not sure what the odds are of that actually being implemented. We also need to close tax loopholes like 'buy, borrow, die' that allow billionaires to avoid capital gains taxes completely.

But, anyway, the president at least proposing increasing taxes on the extremely wealthy is a good step.

Zero. It's in his budget, which will not get through the house at all.

[Tom Servo]

Alex Jones went on the record in court that his show isn't to be taken seriously and it had no effect on his audience. I suspect the Fox News, who have no credibility, cannot fall from its current position.

Ironically I know MAGA people that thought Fox News wasn't conservative enough so they left for Newsmax, etc.

A noticeable number of people switched when Fox called Arizona for Biden.

What's amazing is that a "news" organization had a crisis afterwards about scooping every other news channel with the correct call. That's normally something every news organization desperately wants, you always want to be the first one to break the news.

[neanderthal]

A bit of, I think, good news: Biden is going to propose a new 40% capital gains tax bracket for gains over $1 million (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/biden-to-urge-25-billionaire-tax-big-levies-on-rich-investors?utm_content=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&leadSource=uverify%20wall).

Not sure what the odds are of that actually being implemented. We also need to close tax loopholes like 'buy, borrow, die' that allow billionaires to avoid capital gains taxes completely.

But, anyway, the president at least proposing increasing taxes on the extremely wealthy is a good step.

I hope it passes. Democrats need to demonstrate that the GQP are in it for the millionaire class. My one thing I am hoping doesn't happen is progressives (billi and bernie, et al) talking shit about it.

[neanderthal]

https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1633231011348717568?t=-jj0aJ4wPZjwQYMwPFHiNg&s=19

[21Kid]

Lol, that part that was non-spoilered.

Yes, you have asked me that many times. I normally go to his prison reform bill, though I tend not to give him a lot of credit for that, that was really more Kim Kardashian than him. I also think Operation Warp Speed was a good thing, though I kinda feel like almost any president would have done that in the face of a deadly pandemic.

So I guess now you can wait a while before asking again.
My one thing was when he called to have guns taken away from violent criminals. The one thing they always accuse Democrats of doing. :lol:

“I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence.
“Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said.

Trump was responding to comments from Vice President Pence that families and local law enforcement should have more tools to report potentially dangerous individuals with weapons.

“Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled, but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons,” Pence said.

[21Kid]

It's sad how people keep talking about Trump 2024. That fucker should be in jail. I can't believe he'd even be allowed to run again. :mad:

[21Kid]

A bit of, I think, good news: Biden is going to propose a new 40% capital gains tax bracket for gains over $1 million (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/biden-to-urge-25-billionaire-tax-big-levies-on-rich-investors?utm_content=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&leadSource=uverify%20wall).

Not sure what the odds are of that actually being implemented. We also need to close tax loopholes like 'buy, borrow, die' that allow billionaires to avoid capital gains taxes completely.

But, anyway, the president at least proposing increasing taxes on the extremely wealthy is a good step.
I hope it passes. Democrats need to demonstrate that the GQP are in it for the millionaire class. My one thing I am hoping doesn't happen is progressives (billi and bernie, et al) talking shit about it.Bernie Sanders was the first person I remember calling for a tax on the ultra-wealthy. Why do you think he would talk shit about it? I could see him maybe saying that it doesn't go far enough...

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, I'd like to know why Bernie and Billi would be upset at taxing billionaires and making them pay their fair share. :popcorn:

[Crazed_Insanity]

https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1633231011348717568?t=-jj0aJ4wPZjwQYMwPFHiNg&s=19

Yeah, I've been following this story for a bit... for a moment, I thought Elon still has a heart and I thought it was very big of him to actually apologize for his prior mistake. Able to admit to your mistakes is a good quality...

However, I guess later revelation is suggesting that this special employee can be very costly to terminate?

I guess that's probably the main reason Elon apologized?

Anyway, I suppose this incident is another point deducted for Elon.

I still give him a lot of points for Tesla and SpaceX though. I still think these 2 accomplishments outweighed a lot of crap he created. However, if this kind of crap continues, he just might end up like Howard Hughes...

I really do hope not.

[Cam]

I ate presidential M&Ms. I am now above you proletariat lot. ;)

4052

[Yw-slayer]

Only if you believe in the institution.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I ate presidential M&Ms. I am now above you proletariat lot. ;)

4052

Wow! He even signed the box?!?!?

After eating them red white and blue M&Ms, I guess you’re now officially a patriot! :p

[neanderthal]

Bernie Sanders was the first person I remember calling for a tax on the ultra-wealthy. Why do you think he would talk shit about it? I could see him maybe saying that it doesn't go far enough...

Fair play, he's been consistent over the years in calling for a tax on the millionaire class. Until he became one himself, and started calling for the tax to be on the billionaire class. Or something like that. (that's a joke.)
I said that because of how routinely the progressives shit on anything by President Biden/ the Democrats.

[neanderthal]

I ate presidential M&Ms. I am now above you proletariat lot. ;)

4052

The fuck even is that?

[FaultyMario]

I'm sorry but I have to throw a flag onto the field.

Bernie is super nice to Biden. Painfully so.

[Cam]

The fuck even is that?

That's me eating a whole box of FREEDOM&MS fresh out of the White House!

[Tom Servo]

See http://gtxforums.net/showthread.php?1708-Take-This-Job-And-Love-It&p=186643&viewfull=1#post186643

[Rare White Ape]

Those M&Ms are made from the bone marrow of the children they have buried in the tunnels underneath DC.

[Yw-slayer]

Those M&Ms are made from the bone marrow of the children they have buried in the tunnels underneath DC.

I thought the lizards ate those?

[Tom Servo]

Lol, Jordan Peterson retweeted some fetish porn after believing that a) Chinese breeding facilities exist and b) that a cilp from a porno where dudes are getting off to penis pumps was a picture of one.

https://twitter.com/Mateba_6/status/1634694563859251200

BTW, he definitely did it, I found the tweet. Not sure how much people would actually want me to share it though. If you feel like verifying it, unless he deletes it it was posted at 2:15PM pacific on the 11th. From Mexico, oddly.

EDIT: He deleted it. I've got it screengrabbed. I wonder how many underage followers he just sent a fetish milking video to?

[Crazed_Insanity]

I don’t even have Twitter… just wondering you can easily tell where someone was tweeting from? Jordan Peterson tweeting about CCP porn in Mexico does sound kinda odd for sure. Especially when that mistress doesn’t even look Chinese!

May be a drunken mistake or hacked account?

At least it’s deleted.

[retsmah]

Jordan Peterson must appeal to the same teenage boy market as Andrew Tate, it's so difficult to imagine anyone taking him seriously. Like what would a 'Chinese breeding facility' even do? What evil plan could you possibly have where the thing you're having a real hard time getting is sperm?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Funny that I also find Peterson very appealing! :p

When it comes to folks like Elon and Jordan, I think you guys are just looking for whatever crap you can find to confirm your bias that these guys are dumb, hateful, racists, capitalistic pigs!

It’s almost as if they’ve done nothing beneficial to society at all!

I think even if Peterson got duped by the story, at least he corrected his mistake by deleting the tweet. However, according to Swervo, the tweet originated from Mexico. Isn’t that as odd as the story? Or maybe he went to Mexico with Ted Cruz on a vacation to escape the cold?

[Tom Servo]

Also, given that this is a government that at least was trying to limit children, I'm not sure why they'd suddenly invest in giant dick-sucking-machine factories. But, such "thinking before tweeting" is below Dr. Peterson.

[retsmah]

I hate bringing up Elno again, but most recently he's been using his platform to advocate for the "QAnon Shaman" (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1634332829860646914?cxt=HHwWhMDSiZfDqK4tAAAA), one of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

I spent a little time reading about this because it also seems to be a Tucker Carlson / Fox News* talking point. It's clear reading through this that the Fox news viewership / Elno cult does not understand the difference between individual criminal trials for J6 insurrectionists, the congressional J6 committee, and wider media coverage of these events. "Never before seen video" was not seen by the general public, but was seen and available to the prosecution/defense in the individual J6 criminal trials. Assuming any of them went to trial, I have to admit I don't know if anybody has not taken a plea deal.

Pretty pathetic that a guy once seen by so many as this visionary genius is now just retweeting Tucker Carlson. What's the opposite of a symbiotic relationship? He owns the Twitter algorithm, it owns him, and they're both in this death spiral together.


*Disclaimer: entertainment, not really news, nothing said on Fox News is intended to be taken as true in the event Fox News ends up in court.

[Tom Servo]

Oh yeah. Jacob Chansley was not in any way a ring leader of the insurrection. He was, however, a guy who loved being a part of it and drawing attention to himself, and he was part of a group that violently broke into the capitol. He pleaded guilty. He's serving time for it.

One thing that's impressive about Musk - the second he starts talking about a subject where you have any knowledge, you suddenly realize he's an idiot. He's good enough at bluster and being a blowhard that when you don't know a lot about the subject (like rockets or electric cars), you think he knows what he's talking about. Then he'll eventually start thinking he's smart enough to elucidate on the thing you know about, and it all becomes very clear.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I’ve never actually worked with/for that idiot so I wouldn’t know.

Retsmah probably thought he worked for an idiot and is kicking himself.

Anyway, conservatives do this too. They not only think liberals are idiots, but also evil too!

At least both sides can agree Billi is an idiot. :p

I guess what I’m trying to say is that political ideologies are becoming the new ‘religions’. Even if all world religions were to fall away, there shall be plenty of political dogmas to fight and kill each other for.

Personally, I'm more concerned with the failing banks... than the Shaman. It'd be nice to have a distractions like that to ease our minds of our fiat money possibly evaporate into nothing I suppose. Nothing to worry about there, but let's continue to worry about the Shaman and Elon Musk ready to take over and destroy our world in his idiotic ways...

Anyway, I really hope our banks are not as lame as FTX, but then again, who really knows? If you donate enough, regulators can easily turn the other way, right? This has been proven again and again... So sit tight and I guess we'll find out!

Also, during such financially messed up times, another nice distraction would be war and also easy way to make more money. Ready or not China, I can almost see it coming...

sigh... :(

In the mean time, maybe it'd be good for us Americans to continue fighting against each other to distract ourselves a bit... Yeah, I can't believe Elon is babbling on about that Shaman still...

[retsmah]

On a little different topic, I thought this was an interesting little twitter thread (https://twitter.com/curious_founder/status/1633526010212929536?s=46&t=Jm5hMFxpTOPKb-AxI2Z_1g) on urban planning in the Netherlands, also available in blog post form (https://www.distilled.earth/p/how-the-netherlands-built-a-biking). I don't think I was really aware that the Netherlands was doing basically the same thing in the US with regards to car centric city planning in the 60s and 70s.

I think there's frequently an idea in the US that there's something intrinsic to the US that prevents cities from being walk-able, bike-able or having good public transit. In reality a lot of our problem is just down to zoning and planning.

It does feel like there is progress starting to be made, it comes in the form of pretty boring but important zoning changes. Here in Portland a nonprofit my fiance volunteers for, along with a number of other groups, have been successful in getting zoning changes passed (https://www.portland.gov/bds/zoning-land-use/residential-infill-project) that allow for increased housing density in the city. San Jose recently eliminated all parking minimums (https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/7/15/san-jos-joins-in-the-push-to-abolish-parking-minimums), which again is pretty boring sounding but can have a pretty big impact on future developments.

[Rare White Ape]

One thing I recently found out was that the USA doesn’t even have a whole lot of urban commuter trains. That’s just bizarre to me.

I lived by train for two days a week in 2021 when I studied my course. The school is in Brisbane, about 80 km north from me. I could get there in two hours or less - which includes walking from my house to the bus stop - and it would cost me about $7 ($3.50 on a student card).

Commuter trains bro. I swear bro. You can sit in an air conditioned carriage watching Netflix and not have to drive bro I swear to god.

[retsmah]

They exist a little in the US, New York definitely has them running into the city and I assume the other big east coast cities do as well.

San Diego actually even has a commuter train that runs from downtown up to the furthest north suburbs. It's usefulness is limited by infrequent trains, and at least where I was at in Carlsbad by sprawl and poor local public transit, basically you already have to take a car to the train station. I'd use it when it made sense, which was doing longer flights out of San Diego to save on parking, assuming my flight wasn't too early for the train schedule. I'd still have to pay for a taxi/uber though, so it has to be a longer trip before the parking savings makes up for the taxi cost.

A lot of US cities also I think have a problem with seeing low ridership on the public transit they do have, so they cut funding and reduce bus/train frequency. I think now more people are understanding that induced demand is a thing in transit, and you need to fund decent frequent service on a line first before you are going to get any ridership.

[retsmah]

Actually I'm now remembering the first place I lived in Carlsbad, which was only .4 miles / 0.6 km from one of the commuter train station... if you could fly. However, there was I5 between my house and the station, so I had to walk out of the way to an overpass, and then my house was also in a 'gated community', so I had to walk way up a hill the wrong direction to get around the wall around the neighborhood. All that turned it into a 1.5 mile walk with some some needless steep climbs thrown in for good measure.

I know Portland is doing better on this front, we've got some decent transit corridors that have been rezoned and now have a decent amount of higher density housing in the form of 4-6 story apartment buildings, with good access to light rail and/or bike routes. There's no reason US cities can't have nice things!

[Tom Servo]

Us bike/transport dorks definitely knew about the Netherlands thing. They really got the ball rolling when an alarming number of children were killed by cars, I think they called it "kindermoord."

But yeah, people here in LA for instance love to say "Sure, that worked for Amsterdam or Copenhagen or wherever, but this is Los Angeles, it's different." People in Paris were saying that too. It's purely a matter of political will, there's no reason that Los Angeles, with some of the best weather in the world and long swaths of pretty flat ground, couldn't be one of the best biking cities in the world.

At least we're finally getting some trains going. There's one that runs about a mile from our house and will take you to the beach or into downtown LA, where you can connect to a bunch of other rail lines including some of the regional ones that will take you to other counties. But that's a pretty new thing.

When I've gone to the USGP in Austin, we're really lucky because their whole one rail line goes straight from downtown Austin to the suburb my friend lives in. You're basically shit out of luck if you don't live northeast of downtown though.

[Tom Servo]

Also, yeah, frequency is a *huge* deal when it comes to transit. When I worked in mid-city I'd generally use the bus when it was raining too hard for me to feel like biking. I had to transfer twice. It was a 4 mile total trip and would often take 75-90 minutes, mostly because you'd have to wait so long every time you had to switch buses. It'd take about the same amount of time to walk.

On the other hand, part of what I love about Barcelona is the subways come along like every four minutes. It's not even remotely a big deal if you see a train pulling away right as you head to the platform, because another one will be there before you even know it. And, of course, they're huge trains that are constantly packed with people because they're actually usable.

[Rare White Ape]

Brisbane has a City Glider bus that runs in peak hour that goes every five minutes, reducing to 10 minutes at other times, and 15 minutes later in the evening. Leaves from Teneriffe near the ferry stop, goes all the way through the CBD, and terminates at West End ferry terminal.

And it is free.

FREE.

And as mentioned, if you miss one there will be another bus in 5 minutes. It's practically impossible for you to get to your destination late. The queue near my friend's house where I was staying was easily 40 deep. Half would get on, the other half would wait. Nek minnit, next bus arrives. All good.

I'd never have to wait though, because at that time I was still using a walking stick so people would let me go :D

Jeez it sucked when I weaned off it :(

[Tom Servo]

That sounds glorious.

Before I left GoodRx, I had a bus that picked up three blocks from my house and was a straight shot to the corner of the office. Took no time at all.

The bus came once an hour. Until 6pm, when it stopped entirely. And nothing on weekends.

What's the fucking point?

[Yw-slayer]

Brisbane has Tenerife and CBD??? Brooooooo

[retsmah]

At least we're finally getting some trains going. There's one that runs about a mile from our house and will take you to the beach or into downtown LA, where you can connect to a bunch of other rail lines including some of the regional ones that will take you to other counties. But that's a pretty new thing.


The Expo line actually opened up a few months before I moved from LA down to San Diego, that one was exciting! I went on an Expo line date with a girl that lived in Culver City, we were able to walk to the train station from her apartment and just do stuff at stops along the train line all day.

The SpaceX office had a green line stop a few blocks away, but it seemed pretty useless. I used it once to go from the airport back to the office, the bus transfer took like 45 minutes, another 20 minutes waiting for a train. The walk was also pretty sketchy after hours, but that's not really the metro's fault.

The redondo beach green line stop (https://goo.gl/maps/e48VMWNncu8mvhKP6) is probably worth a laugh for those outside the US/LA, you can just pan around in 360 degrees and try to figure out where anyone would possibly be walking from to get to that station.

[FaultyMario]

On a little different topic, I thought this was an interesting little twitter thread (https://twitter.com/curious_founder/status/1633526010212929536?s=46&t=Jm5hMFxpTOPKb-AxI2Z_1g) on urban planning in the Netherlands, also available in blog post form (https://www.distilled.earth/p/how-the-netherlands-built-a-biking). I don't think I was really aware that the Netherlands was doing basically the same thing in the US with regards to car centric city planning in the 60s and 70s.

Stop de Kindemoord!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lajp9E1CPJA

[FaultyMario]

But yeah, people here in LA for instance love to say "Sure, that worked for Amsterdam or Copenhagen or wherever, but this is Los Angeles, it's different."

Utrecht! Even the Dutch acknowledge that Amsterdam is a difficult case to follow, and they say that Utrecht is a better example for "modern" cities. I think the plan for Cardiff, Wales took inspiration from Utrecht.

And now that you mention it, Tom, evidence is coming in from the traffic interventions done in Paris and Barcelona during/right after the pandemic and quality of life is defo improving.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhY910xXEAAoCX8.jpg

https://twitter.com/fietsprofessor/status/1591469137955819522

[Crazed_Insanity]

I think Barcelona is a city with functioning mass transit that’s why car traffic could evaporate when drivers realize it’s no longer worth driving…

Kinda doubt the same can happen in LA though.

One thing LA has proven is that no matter how much you widen your freeways, traffic can always find a way to jam it!

Urban planning is a tough job. You do it well, nobody will notice. Otherwise you’ll probably get endless complaints!

[HondaKid86]

The sad thing is, I remember Billi when he was actually cool.

I dunno. I was only 16. Maybe everyone was cool back then.

"Find Jesus and become a bigotry apologist" wasn't in my crystal ball though. Damn.

See what happens when you sell your cool Honda hatchback, move to the suburbs and drown in your privilege?

[HondaKid86]

Tom Servo was cool, too, though, and he still is. 🤷*♂️

[2ndMoparMan]

The sad thing is, I remember Billi when he was actually cool.

I dunno. I was only 16. Maybe everyone was cool back then.

"Find Jesus and become a bigotry apologist" wasn't in my crystal ball though. Damn.

See what happens when you sell your cool Honda hatchback, move to the suburbs and drown in your privilege?

God damn, are we really that old now?

[HondaKid86]

I was 12 when I joined the GTF. I'm 37 now. 🙃


###

"Each depositor insured up to $250,000." I'm sorry, I just don't see any reason the FDIC needs to fund anyone above that.

[Tom Servo]

Tom Servo was cool, too, though, and he still is. ��*♂️

Aww, right back atcha.

[Crazed_Insanity]

As far as I know, I’m still cool. Maybe an idiot, but a cool idiot. I also don’t get how I became a bigot, but cool person doesn’t care what other people thinks of him! :p If loving God and loving my neighbor make me a bigot, then make it so. I honestly believe this is the way. May the force be with you and live long and proper guys.

[MR2 Fan]

HondaKid86 has always been cool, at least when he's here :p

[neanderthal]

Every election matters.

https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1635761348955996163?t=8qb5AxI-wAldml-Sbu01Dg&s=19

Voting for people working to not harm and punch down matters.

Every time!!!

Sometime tell billi please.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Dude, I do NOT punch down! Plus, I'm not in any high up position to even be able to do that.

Anyway, the problem I have is that I'm becoming an apathetic voter. I just don't feel like voting for anyone. Yeah, I want to vote FOR something, not just blindly vote against something and then still never ever get what I really want.

I think that's been the strategy for most politicians, right? Just scare their voter base about how fucked up the other side is... so if you don't want to fuck things up, vote for me!!!

Reality is that both parties are fucking things up in their different ways. So yeah, 2 parties fuck up different things, but they are the same by fucking things up. Making America worse and worse.

Anyway, if people like Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, they will have my vote enthusiastically.

It is kinda mind boggling to me that you actually hate Bernie and Katie Porter types that much.

If dems are really all that pragmatic, the courts wouldn't be packed with conservative judges and districts won't be redrawn in ways that would cause them to lose power. If they were really all that pragmatic, they'd be more concerned with regulating FTX and banks better... rather then just trying to regulate Elon Musk's tweets.

[Yw-slayer]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/16/chinese-official-asks-if-australias-aukus-nuclear-submarines-intended-for-sightseeing


Chinese official asks if Australia’s Aukus nuclear submarines intended for ‘sightseeing’
Multiple sources present confirm the remark was made, but it is unclear if it was made sarcastically

DO YOU THINK HE WAS BEING SARCASTIC??

HMMM ONE WONDERS

[Rare White Ape]

It’s a big investment.

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/humans-of-betoota/government-spends-368-billion-on-some-submarines-that-will-halt-chinas-invasion-by-14-hours/

[FaultyMario]

Pentagon, make up your mind.

what is it? a new war in the South China sea, bringing freedom to Mexico or a mothership inside the solar system sending probes to earth?

[Yw-slayer]

Remember kids. FREEDOM IS THE ONLY WAY

[Tom Servo]

Crying at this.

https://www.theonion.com/conservative-historian-claims-diversity-ultimately-doom-1850233848

[Rare White Ape]

Heh. I like it :lol:

[Crazed_Insanity]

Our current right is becoming more like Nazis.

Our current left is becoming more like Communist Russia and China. China's cultural revolution is probably one of most woke thing ever! A lot of folks were cancelled.

Each side is believing that they are correct and the other side is evil.

Nazis obviously collapsed.

Soviet Union also collapsed.

CCP was clever enough to adopt some capitalism in order to grow bigger and be able to compete on world stage.

There's not a single -ism that'll work perfectly all by itself.

I do believe we also need diversity of ideas as well.

America historically does have very diverse ideas. Even today, as polarizing as we are, at least we don't have any single side winning out... at the very minimum, diversity of ideas will check and balance things out a bit. Once the opposition voices are silenced, that's when things begin to fall. Dictatorships also do not tend to promote diversity of ideas. CCP can't possibly continue on forever just because of capitalism.

[MR2 Fan]

Our current left is becoming more like Communist Russia and China.

wrong but don't let me stop you

[Yw-slayer]

He truly has no clue what he is talking about.

[Rare White Ape]

COMMERNIZM BAD
CUINA BAD
USHER BAD

[Crazed_Insanity]

wrong but don't let me stop you

But you can continue explaining why I'm wrong. China's cultural revolution is the biggest baddest cancel culture ever IMHO. US isn't as bad, but we are slowly getting there.

Anyway, roofer will probably tell me that I'm wrong about the right becoming more like Nazis too. Of course the right isn't exactly like the Nazis, yet, but we're getting there, right?

Lastly, do you believe we need diversity of ideas? Or we just need to eradicate/silence other ideas that we don't agree with?

[Rare White Ape]

PERADOCKS OF TOLERENTS BAD

[Tom Servo]

Wow, that's quite the take there, ain't it?

[Yw-slayer]

Something something Evil Empire blah blah blah?

[sandydandy]

Apparently Trump is expecting to be arrested on Tuesday, (according to a CNN headline I glanced at). I hope it happens Monday. It’s music to my ears.

His clueless worshippers will lose their minds and shit, and will likely start a raucous. I hope the police/military wipe them out this time.

[MR2 Fan]

I hate that they're giving a warning for this, why not just surprise arrest him?

[Tom Servo]

He's calling it an arrest, but it'll likely be that NY indict him and he'll be required to appear before a judge to hear the charges. He ain't getting arrested, he's just yelling that to get his base riled up.

[MR2 Fan]

I'm not really an expert on legal proceedings, which I guess is a good thing by not having to worry about that

[Rare White Ape]

So the bloke who once again wants to be The Authority has a problem with authority?

Crazy.

I am sure his followers will be glad to help agitate to ensure that he can return to the position of foot in the jackboot that stands on everyone's necks.

Not to mention the absolute fuckwits who love to both-sides every issue and give him benefit of the doubt.

[Crazed_Insanity]

How many fuckwits do you know besides me? :p

Anyway, this is beginning to feel like 2016, except now he’s chanting, ‘lock me up! Lock me up!!!’

[neanderthal]

"Nobody in the USA is above the law." Ken Starr, circa 1999 speaking about a President being indicted or arrested.

[Tom Servo]

It is always a little amazing when some of the hard-right commentators like to say "If they can do this to the former president of the United States, imagine what they can do to you!" The whole idea is that he's held under the same standard, despite his previous station. Like...that's supposed to be a good thing.

[Rare White Ape]

Content warning: police violence, anti-trans messaging, and nazis.

Actual content: Victorian police protecting nazis at a Melbourne anti-trans rally.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNpthG64_X4&ab_channel=YeahNah

[JoshInKC]

Thanks for that - When I 1st saw something about it, I was confused about 'Parker Posey (https://www.google.com/search?q=parker+posey&sxsrf=AJOqlzUuaZgnklSBbpYPpP8fLvtV7Wbhuw%3A1679314 676006&source=hp&ei=804YZP3tOryt0PEPrbuK4AQ&iflsig=AK50M_UAAAAAZBhdBNEaYXqAGUwC34p_dHDBm0YQPQY n&gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TcwKqwwszRg9OIpSCzKTi1SKMgvTq0EAF2 NB_U&oq=parker+&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMYADILCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEyDgguEIA EELEDEIMBENQCMggILhCABBCxAzIICC4QgAQQsQMyDgguEIAEE MkDEMcBEK8BMgUILhCABDILCC4QgAQQxwEQrwEyCAguEIAEELE DMgUIABCABDIICC4QgAQQsQM6BAgjECc6CgguEMcBEK8BECc6E QguEIAEELEDEIMBEMcBENEDOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAToLCC4QgAQ QxwEQ0QM6BAguECc6DgguEMcBELEDENEDEIAEOggIABCABBCxA zoOCC4QgAQQsQMQxwEQ0QM6CwguEK8BEMcBEIAEOg4IABCABBC xAxCDARDJAzoRCC4QxwEQ1AIQsQMQ0QMQgARQAFiXC2DWF2gAc AB4AIABX4gBzQSSAQE3mAEAoAEB&sclient=gws-wiz)' having anything to do with AUS politics/nazis/terfs, as that doesn't really fit with her vibe.
Anyway, fuck terfs, nazis, and cops.

[dodint]

I hope the police/military wipe them out this time.

Got some bad news for you bud.

[George]

Content warning: police violence, anti-trans messaging, and nazis.

Actual content: Victorian police protecting nazis at a Melbourne anti-trans rally.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNpthG64_X4&ab_channel=YeahNah



https://youtu.be/CLLru1_f3rc

[retsmah]

I wish 'police working with nazis' was one of the many shitty things that only happened in America. Well actually I wish it didn't happen at all, but it sucks it also happens other places.

The lawsuit brought by the family of John Huber (https://loevy-content-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/08/Huber-Complaint_fs.pdf), who was killed by Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin during protests against the police back in 2020 pretty gives a good description of how police aided white supremacists in killing people protesting police violence:


Specifically, working in concert with these others, [Police] targeted individuals of color and individuals allied with them in protest against racial discrimination, including Huber, by creating a dangerous environment in which injury to Huber and others was highly likely. They did this by permitting the all-white armed individuals—many of whom had openly espoused racist and violent intentions—to taunt, threaten and monitor the diverse group of protestors, by permitting the all-White armed individuals to patrol the streets like deputized police officers, by offering the all-White armed individuals assistance and praise while simultaneously ordering protestors to disperse, and by ultimately corralling the protestors and funneling them toward the all-white armed individuals to “deal with them.” Moreover, in the week or so after the protests began, more than 150 members of the racially diverse group of protestors were arrested for violating [Polices’] curfew order. Not a single one of the all-white armed individuals was arrested for violating the same curfew order.

(Changed Defendant to Police to make for slightly easier reading)

Here in Portland a guy shot multiple protesters (https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/24/accused-shooter-at-portland-normandale-park-protest-pleads-not-guilty/), killing one, very close to the house I grew up in. I don't have links ready but in the aftermath the Portland police provided cover for the guy, framing it as an altercation between a home owner and protesters outside his house. The reality was he did not own the property, he was renting, and he had been reported to the police for making numerous credible, right-wing politically motivated threats.

[Rare White Ape]

Content warning: police violence, anti-trans messaging, and nazis.

Actual content: Victorian police protecting nazis at a Melbourne anti-trans rally.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNpthG64_X4&ab_channel=YeahNah

Update from the cuzzy bro side of the ditch:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/immigration-new-zealand-reviews-entry-for-uk-anti-trans-activist-kellie-jay-keen-minshull/FQNQMWZQ7NFKVMWIJ4RUUELZJ4/?fbclid=IwAR3j_vMZYy_63hszSFFezv5OlHFtUIBdUtu2f7TG oepVV1J4qitAbRUnwSM

[Crazed_Insanity]

You know, whether we go right or left, I'm beginning to think that all of these political fights are pretty much an internal struggles of white people.

Seriously. Kyle shot a bunch of white protesters, not blacks nor jews. Situation could've easily been reversed... Kyle being killed by a bunch of white protesters. I wish white people can figure themselves out soon and settle the issue. Obviously Civil War didn't do it. WWII didn't do it. White people are still struggling to figure things out.

Other issues as well. Take climate change for example. Obviously we need to change our ways to reduce emissions, but after the white western world has been polluting the most, do you really have the nerve to tell other poorer nations to cut back more? What do you have to offer in return? What alternative cheaper cleaner energy sources do we have? You can't just tell others to cut back without a better alternative. You also can't tell others to cut back when you yourselves continue to produce and buy giant SUVs...

The transphobic issue too... Clearly we do not trust the judgement of kids because they haven't fully developed yet. That's why we have laws limiting drinking age, smoking age, driver's licensing age... however, somehow we just know that we need to allow kids gender reversal treatments as early as possible? Do we really know what the heck we're doing? Also, do you really think kids in 3rd world countries are worried about being bullied because they think they might be transgender? I really think they are probably just worrying about their next meal and how to stay warm using solar panels.

Doesn't matter, the left and right are just at odds with each other and we'll fight to the death without even knowing/understanding the problems we're dealing with. All we know is that our political oppositions are dumb and stupid and we need to get rid of them.

[FaultyMario]

Did they grab him by the fatty flaps?

[neanderthal]

Saw somebody holding a sign that said something about their grandkids "being harmed by trans people" at that school (only got a glimpse of the sign as I was driving past) and immediately my mind went "your grandkid is probably in more danger with the local youth pastor" and I thought "somebody should go and hold up a sign saying something like that" right next to that dude.

[Tom Servo]

Did they grab him by the fatty flaps?

As far as I can tell, nothing outside of some poorly attended pro-Trump protests happened today.

Saw one reporter saying he thought there were about 20 protestors at an event compared to 100 reporters there to cover it.

That and a bunch of them are all paranoid after January 6th and are all just accusing each other of being secret feds there to surveil them.

[Rare White Ape]

Here's a nice crayon-level rundown for people who aren't experts in NY state law such as myself.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-arrest-indictment-hush-money-stormy-daniels-court-charged-perp-walk-usa-politics-news/faa70c51-b75d-40a4-9946-9b8d184d9655

(formatting edits by me for clarity and flow, because holy shit apparently news consumers in Australia are simpletons)


What will happen if Donald Trump is arrested?

By Nick Pearson
1:31pm Mar 22, 2023

Donald Trump has flagged that he is about to be arrested in New York in the coming days, ahead of a trial in relation to hush money paid to a former mistress.
But what can the former president expect if he is arrested, and can he expect to be treated differently to the average criminal suspect in New York?

In spite of Donald Trump's declaration he is about to be arrested, it is not a sure thing. Once a decision has been made to arrest someone, law enforcement normally acts immediately. A grand jury in New York is currently considering felony charges against the former president. While the details have not been made official, this investigation relates to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Daniels was given $US130,000 ($194,000) during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump.

The grand jury investigation centres around whether Trump concealed the hush money as something else. If he presented it in his books as a legal or a business expense, he could face fraud charges. He could face a maximum of four years in jail if found guilty.

What is an indictment?

An indictment is a formal notice that a person is believed to have committed a crime. In New York, the indictment includes all the felony charges that a person will go on trial for. An indictment is different from an arrest, but if Trump is indicted, it means he will be arrested.

How will an arrest take place?

A SWAT-style raid on Trump's country club in Mar-a-Lago is not going to happen, and we won't see him kicking and screaming as they drag him into a squad car. For the first time, an arrest will need to take place with the consultation of the Secret Service agents tasked to protect him. As a former president, Trump is entitled to Secret Service protection.

But that likely won't mean they will be allowed to follow him into court or frisk the judge at his bail hearing. The most likely course of action will be the Manhattan district attorney's office will contact his lawyers, and Trump will fly up to New York to surrender.

What will happen after Trump is arrested?

There's an indecorous tradition in New York law enforcement called the "perp walk", where high-profile suspects are paraded in front of cameras. In a perp walk, handcuffed suspects are walked slowly from a police car into the courthouse, while news photographers jostle to snap photos of them. Perp walks, like this one involving Harvey Weinstein, are a tradition of New York law enforcement.

The New York Times is reporting that Trump is considering whether to smile for the cameras if he is put through a perp walk. But both the New York Daily News and the New York Post cite police sources saying Trump won't be put through a perp walk. But if he is indicted, Trump will be booked, most likely at the Manhattan district attorney's office. That means he will be fingerprinted, have his mugshot taken and be read his Miranda rights ("You have the right to remain silent...").

Mugshots in New York state are not allowed to be released, but it is very possible it gets leaked. Whether Trump is handcuffed will be up to the district attorney's office.

When will Trump face court?

Trump will likely not face any time behind bars before facing court for his bail hearing. He will likely be taken directly from the district attorney's office to court, where his lawyers will ask for him to be released under his own recognisance. It is almost certain Trump will be immediately released. Under New York's recent bail laws, a suspect is required to be released without bail unless they have committed a violent crime or are considered a flight risk. Trump may be required to surrender his passport and could be prevented from leaving the state.

When would Trump face trial?

A trial could be months away, thanks in no small part to Trump's fame. Jury selection would be an immense headache in the case. Finding 12 New Yorkers who don't already have a strong opinion about Donald Trump is going to be very difficult.

Can Trump be charged if he is running for president?

He absolutely can. Even if he were still the president, Trump could be arrested, indicted, tried, convicted and imprisoned if guilty of any crime. While federal guidelines advise law enforcement against prosecuting politicians too close to election day, New York prosecutors are not bound by this rule. The only criteria for running for president is that a person needs to be older than 35 and a "natural born citizen". Trump could still be elected president even if behind bars, though he would still need to serve his term in jail while serving his term in the Oval Office.

While no former president has ever been arrested, one sitting president has. Ulysses S. Grant was arrested in 1872 for speeding on his horse and buggy as he raced through Washington.

Will there be protests if Trump is arrested?

Very possibly, but the most recent demonstration in New York was a dud. A protest outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday morning only attracted five Trump supporters and a few dozen anti-Trump counter-protesters. Despite this, all 35,000 officers of the New York Police Department have been ordered to be ready to mobilise in full uniform at a moment's notice. Heavy fencing has also been set up around the courthouse as the grand jury makes its decision.

[Tom Servo]

That all sounds about right. I doubt they'd make him remain in NY, and it'd be an absolute nightmare doing jury selection.

[HondaKid86]

Decades of seducing straight men and not one has ever paid me hush money. Bullshit.

[Crazed_Insanity]

While we focus on Trump and Nazis, Xi and Putin formed an alliance and pledged a new world order.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/xi-putin-pledge-new-world-order-chinese-leader-leaves-russia-rcna76048

I'm thinking about Elon Musk again. While having factories both in the West and in China, when push comes to shove, I wonder what he'll do...

[FaultyMario]

Capitalist are going to capitalism.

Any other questions?

[Crazed_Insanity]

That'd be my guess, but China will probably screw that capitalist up real good when the time comes. Hope Elon's ready. He's rich enough, he can probably afford to lose some money and one of his factories.

Now I wonder in the future, Ukraine will end up like Germany, Korea(officially split in half) or like Vietnam(Completely one way or another).

I'm really hoping China can rise to the occasion and flex her muscles by helping broker some peace rather than trying to beat America in a war..., but chances are, whether hot or cold, war with China probably will be inevitable. Both nations are not doing well economically. Great time to fight a war.

Scary and depressing times. I really didn't think history would repeat itself so quickly. I thought after witnessing the fall of Berlin Wall, everything would be so awesome and we'd be marching toward a Star Trek like world and play granturismo all day... Yeah, I'm too naive.

[Yw-slayer]

Violent protests in France, Police cracking down.

Nothing on cnn front page, but there is one about Honduras switching diplomatic ties which is described as a "blow" to some place's apparent "self-ruled democracy".

No US Senators flying over to France to "stand with protesters fighting for freedom" and saying they "saw no evidence of violence" on their 8 hour visit shepherded by people calling for US intervention.

No screams of "sanctions" or "police brutality" by them or by western msm.

No simpering parties calling the demonstrators "largely non-violent peaceful protesters with genuine grievances against an oppressive government."

HMMM ONE WONDERS WHY

REALLY ONE WONDERS

DOES ONE???!?!???

[Crazed_Insanity]

FWIW, I saw that story on CNN yesterday in my news feed, couldn’t tell if it was front page news or not.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/23/intl_business/france-pension-national-strike-violence-intl-hnk/index.html

Anyway, you have to understand, no US Republican senators’ gonna stand in solidarity with the protesters in France mainly because those senators would probably want to raise retirement age too!

Plus, they’d only defund police if police were pushing liberal/leftist causes. Chinese police is worth fighting against. Not the French police! :p

Anyway, Hollywood is extending olive branch to China with the Oscar sweep. Top Gun Maverick couldn’t beat it! Win some lose some I guess…

[Rare White Ape]

Person 1: "Darling, the French are protesting again."

Person 2: *looks up from videogame device* "Oh, ok hun."

--------

I saw this image a month ago on a Facebook page. In the past I have seen their fire brigades even protesting against the gendarmerie.

https://i.imgur.com/iNhAqBC.jpg

I love French people.

[neanderthal]

https://twitter.com/JamesFLoveIV/status/1639883882056019969?t=UJNEEtJpVFTw34CJTX7seQ&s=19

[FaultyMario]

Mick, did you se that sequence of pics? It's funny bc the older gentleman on the top of the steps completely misses the mayhem around him.

[MR2 Fan]

https://twitter.com/JamesFLoveIV/status/1639883882056019969?t=UJNEEtJpVFTw34CJTX7seQ&s=19

That is the clearest thread I've ever seen about the slowness (perceived or otherwise) of the process

[neanderthal]

That is the clearest thread I've ever seen about the slowness (perceived or otherwise) of the process

It really is quite eye opening, even for someone like me, who understands how intentionally and deliberately the whole process has to be done.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes, it was very eye opening that a rich neighborhood called south Pasadena in LA was able to hire enough lawyers to delay construction of a freeway for decades and that fwy probably will never ever be built now.

It’s always nice to be rich and can afford good lawyers. This is probably why DOJ to this day was able to bring 0 wall st banker to justice who caused the financial crisis.

If annoyed citizens sound impatient and frustrated, just block them and fuck them! We’re doing the best we could already lady! So shut up Billi!

[Yw-slayer]

https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/asean-finance-ministers-and-central-banks-consider-dropping-us-dollar-euro-and-yen-indonesia-calls-for-phasing-out-visa-and-mastercard/

Billi and his Brainwashed Star Wars Bros hate things like this as it doesn't suit their preferred binary worldview of "Rebel Alliance v Evil Empire etc. Blah blah blah"

[Crazed_Insanity]

That’s where you’re wrong. I think it’s about time people stop bowing down to US dollars.

Darth Putin and Darth Xi are obvious targets, but the real evil emperor is probably in the republic called the US in a position of power that doesn’t need to be elected…

We were the rebel alliance back when we had only 13 little colonies, but things have changed. Our globalist ambitions should be pretty clear. This ambition predates Trump and will continue after trump.

[sandydandy]

CNN saying Trump is indicted. It feels underwhelming. I'll wait for conviction and sentencing. Might have to wait a very long time. :|

[retsmah]

It's a step in the right direction at least, at this point with a grand jury indictment I think he either has to plead guilty or face a trial right?

[2ndMoparMan]

Yep, pretty much. Case might be a bit on the weak side, but there are a lot of other cases he has to deal with.

[Rare White Ape]

https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/asean-finance-ministers-and-central-banks-consider-dropping-us-dollar-euro-and-yen-indonesia-calls-for-phasing-out-visa-and-mastercard/

Billi and his Brainwashed Star Wars Bros hate things like this as it doesn't suit their preferred binary worldview of "Rebel Alliance v Evil Empire etc. Blah blah blah"

I think they’re on to something. Australia could benefit from joining in.

[retsmah]

Case might be a bit on the weak side, but there are a lot of other cases he has to deal with.

I'm wondering about this, because at least a couple news stories I read were just outright saying that he's being charged with crimes that he for sure committed. The only thing would be proving that the 'hush money' payments were made to support his 2016 presidential campaign, which seems fairly straightforward given that the payments were a couple months ahead of the presidential campaign but a decade after that actual incidents.

I think they're weak in terms of the severity of the crime compared to other things he's done, but it seems like potentially a pretty straightforward case. Which I think is not uncommon when dealing with organized crime bosses.

[retsmah]

I thought this quote was funny, it was mentioned on the Daily Zeitgeist (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-the-daily-zeitgeist-28516718/), which I listen to pretty frequently:

"Melania is leading her own life, and still feels happy being at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by people who love her and who never talk about reality, or bad things about her husband" (https://people.com/politics/melania-trump-barron-family-mar-a-lago/)

Mostly unrelated to politics, but also apparently Barron Trump is now 6'7"! He needs to denounce his father and start playing basketball.

[2ndMoparMan]

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1641576687606562816

Uh....you kinda have to. Jackass

[MR2 Fan]

indicted on 34 counts! holy crap!

[Crazed_Insanity]

One thing that bothers me is that there’s nothing stopping Trump to run for president in prison.

https://fortune.com/2023/03/30/donald-trump-can-still-run-for-president-after-indictment/amp/

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's good that Trump is finally indicted, but remains to be seen what will really happen in the end. Like some have said, Trump could legally still run for election and possibly run the county in prison! Or maybe he could pardon himself? What a crazy country!

Anyway, speaking of this crazy world that we live in, Russia will take charge of UN security council and this is not an april fool's joke.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/absurdity-level-russia-takes-charge-040012245.html

Just like WHO was powerless and unable to stop a pandemic. UN is also powerless and unable to stop a war and Russia can still operate in that organization as if business as usual...

Look, if you're unable to reform and improve, it's only matter of time people will get rid of you. Little wonder why globalism fell apart.

[FaultyMario]

Did they grab him by the fatty flaps?

Have they yet?

[FaultyMario]

Tuesday I'm hearing.

A fucking weekend of rednecks crying "Jews will not replace us", then.

[George]

One thing that bothers me is that there’s nothing stopping Trump to run for president in prison.

Eugene V. Debs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs#Presidential_elections) ran for president from federal prison in Atlanta in the 1920 election.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow! He managed to win 3.4% of the popular vote in prison!!!

How did you know about this guy? Seems like an interesting character. Probably on the opposite extreme of Trump. Thanks for the history lesson. :)

[edit]just went back to the fortune article I quoted earlier, it also mentioned him a bit, but I guess I totally skipped over that part earlier... :p

[George]

How did you know about this guy?

His name came up now and again in Political Science classes. I wrote a paper about him in college.

A few years ago, I listened to the audiobook Wilson by A. Scott Berg which re-acquainted me with him.

Here's another source that I didn't know existed before a few minutes ago.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY2mQxm4SNQ

[FaultyMario]

Dude, he is a figure of the American Labor movement, his work with the Railway Union earned him a place in the pantheon of lay-saints.

[Crazed_Insanity]

His name came up now and again in Political Science classes. I wrote a paper about him in college.

A few years ago, I listened to the audiobook Wilson by A. Scott Berg which re-acquainted me with him.

Here's another source that I didn't know existed before a few minutes ago.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY2mQxm4SNQ

My goodness. I guess he is the original 'Bernie Sanders'?

I honestly have never heard of him or just didn't remember him in my social science classes? (Just as I skipped over his name in the article which I linked earlier... :p )

[Tom Servo]

Absolutely howling at this.

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

My favorite response so far: "Sir is there a calendar in the milking dungeon"

[JoshInKC]

If there's anything the past several years online have shown me, it is that Jordan Peterson needs some serious mood stabilizers.
UP YOURS, WOKE MORALISTS

[Crazed_Insanity]

It’s kinda sad for people to see their political opponents as somebody that foolish whether if it’s April or not.

Peterson and Elon are clearly fools and don’t know what they’re doing. They’re just lucky to have a bunch of even foolish supporters.

[Rare White Ape]

Absolutely howling at this.

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

My favorite response so far: "Sir is there a calendar in the milking dungeon"

That's fucking great :lol:

Imagine finding yourself famous for merely being the pied piper for a bunch of simps who are just instinctively looking for some pseudointellectual guidance to pull them along. His followers have grown old enough that they feel they should move on from watching Pokemon and now need an 'adult' to guide them.

Reminds me of this guy who was in a book many years ago, but I forget his name.

But there are, like, three of them that immediately come to mind: Musk, Peterson, and Joe Rogan. There's a slice of society - mostly young men - who are deeply attracted to what these people say, and it feels like they follow along without question or any ounce of critical thought. Which is a shame, because they can be a good starting point to learning to use the mind in different ways, but their followers believe them to be the ultimate source of info so they stop there.

[Tom Servo]

I think it's because they offer simple "answers" to questions that often just aren't answerable, and that's because they're willing to just ignore huge swaths of the question to get to that answer and often pretty effectively use mockery to knock down serious challenges to those answers.

Case in point, if Peterson had just bothered to *read to the end of the article* before angrily tweeting at Trudeau, he would have noticed it said



From all of us at the Western Standard, have a happy April Fools Day.


It's not even a long article, and by the third or fourth paragraph, if you haven't caught on that it's an April Fool's thing (or at least satirical), it makes me very much question your critical reading skills.



"There is really no reason if you have to visit your la grandmother in the hospital in Vancouver, and you live in Calgary, that you can't bike it in a couple of days."

Quebec Premier François Legault was tepid in his response, stating that he would only allow the construction through his province if Alberta paid for it, and if Muslim women were not allowed to wear headscarfs with their bike helmets.


Like...just the bare minimum of knowing what you're talking about before publicly going off the deep end about it. And it's a pattern -- you'd think he might have learned after posting fetish "milking" video clips when he was tricked into thinking that they were CCP camps where they forcibly steal sperm. But alas, no, he has learned nothing.

That said, the Western Standard folks must be absolutely beside themselves with joy at this one.

[Cam]

Probably did not read the article at all, only the headline.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Like I said, it’s sad that Peterson thought Justin and CCP are really that foolish.

Likewise you guys thought Peterson and Musk are fools as well. Writing foolish books and giving foolish lectures and building foolish EVs and rockets. Fail to bother to really get to know the real person. If you stand opposite of me, then you’re a fool. I’m don’t need to bother to listen to you or read to the end of any articles. All these April fools articles further confirm my belief that you are a fool.

Anyway, I thought Peterson would be better than this. Unfortunately he is only human. Btw, we’re all human.

[sandydandy]

Just checked Jordan Peterson's Twitter. What a shithole.

[JoshInKC]

Likewise you guys thought Peterson and Musk are fools as well. Writing foolish books and giving foolish lectures and building foolish EVs and rockets. Fail to bother to really get to know the real person.

Counterpoint: We've had >10 years of Musk being a major figure in tech who is constantly reported on and constantly being a dumbass on twitter. Peterson hasn't been notable for quite as long, but he started off by being a notable jerk who misread something and thought that being polite was a violation of his rights.
We've had plenty of time to get to know them, and they are both dumb assholes.

[Tom Servo]

Oh man. Yeah, Billi, you misjudge how much leeway we've given these people. They lionize themselves, and people like you lionize them. We're the ones that all along have been saying that they're not exceptional, they're just humans, and shouldn't be put up on a pedestal. You can't have it both ways, buddy.

Admittedly, a lot of people do the same stupid shit that Peterson has been doing lately. They also haven't been putting themselves out there as the saviors of the white male community and as super geniuses.

[Rare White Ape]

It's OK to be highly critical of people like Musk and Peterson. They have lots of followers, and having that many followers is really pretty dangerous if you aren't careful with how you conduct yourself.

Look at how many people would throw thousands of dollars into various cryptocurrencies based off a tweet from Musk, and look now at how many people have lost all of their money in the crypto crash.

Another example is how these figures can have a mildly negative opinion on transgender people, which whips up another round of bigotry and hatred. People die because of this.

They're "only human" too.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Counterpoint: We've had >10 years of Musk being a major figure in tech who is constantly reported on and constantly being a dumbass on twitter. Peterson hasn't been notable for quite as long, but he started off by being a notable jerk who misread something and thought that being polite was a violation of his rights.
We've had plenty of time to get to know them, and they are both dumb assholes.

Peterson got famous by fighting against government forcing him to be ‘polite’. I honestly don’t believe Peterson would’ve otherwise been mean to trans folks if Canadian government failed to intervene… regardless of your political ideologies, his action further confirms whatever bias you have about him. Yep, he is transphobic, or yep, he’s my hero, fuck trans folks!

However, I do believe he is on point about compelled speech. Do we really need government regulations about being polite? When news organizations can report lies, we are worrying about citizens need to be polite?

As for Musk, constantly reported on and constantly being a douche on Twitter… well, did he break any laws and did his companies collapsed yet? Actually besides Twitter, both Tesla and SpaceX were near collapse multiple times, but I’m talking about the kind like Enron, Theranos, FTX, etc. Regulators were constantly on Elon’s ass but never bothered with the bankers that caused the financial crisis… Regulators were all cool with FTX until it imploded. Regulators were also not on the case of the banks constantly until they implode. So this shows that being constantly on your ass doesn't really mean much.

Difference between Elon and Trump should be clear, but to most of the left, I think they see the two about the same dumbassness now, right?

Anyway, I admire Peterson and Elon and even Bernie, for their authenticity. Such authenticity sometimes just isn’t that politically correct and would end up offending some folks. Oh well. At least I get to know where they’re really coming from.

With Trump, SBF, Elizabeth Holmes, most career politicians, you just don’t know who they really are…. let people be genuinely polite. If a society needs to force people to be polite, then it's probably a fucked up society.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's OK to be highly critical of people like Musk and Peterson. They have lots of followers, and having that many followers is really pretty dangerous if you aren't careful with how you conduct yourself.

Look at how many people would throw thousands of dollars into various cryptocurrencies based off a tweet from Musk, and look now at how many people have lost all of their money in the crypto crash.

Another example is how these figures can have a mildly negative opinion on transgender people, which whips up another round of bigotry and hatred. People die because of this.

They're "only human" too.

Regarding crypto, I personally only kinda in favor of Bitcoin because it's probably the only kind without a central 'issuer'. I do hope Bitcoin succeed and be able to compete with US Central Bank. We need to stop Central Bank monoplizing money supplies of the world.

Anyway, last crypto crash was not due to crypto itself, but FTX's fraud! No regulators were on FTX's ass... eventhough it's now apparent it has broken multiple 'existing' laws. I guess regulators were so busy trying to control Elon, they have no more resources to police those who actually are committing fraud.

As for discrimination, it's easy to just blame that on people like Elon, Peterson or even Jesus Christ. However, I think if you removed them all, people will continue to discriminate. It's part of our evolution. We've evolved to discriminate against those who are not in our in-group. This emotional response is not something we can quickly tame using our intellect. It will take time. People who are in the out groups just need to stay strong and find support in each other. Know who you really are. I've personally been in the out-group for a long time on this forum. Should I really force people to NOT ignore me? ;) Likewise, I'm not really sure trans should force people to learn new pronouns. They should just allow people to really get to know them 1st. If they don't want to, fine, we're never going to get everyone to like us. That's just the reality we have to face.

Anyway, like I've said before, I really do believe Peterson, Musk and Christianity have been an overall net positive for humanity. Most of you guys just hate them because they seemed to go against what you believe in. We all believe in different things just as we all specialize in different things. We don't always need to be in competition, often times we can all work together to make our world a better place.

Take pro-life and pro-choice debate, I really don't believe pro-lifers hate choice and pro-choicers hate life. Politics over time has force people into this false dichotomy as if we can only be one or the other and end up willing to kill each other for our false idiotologies! We just need more common sense and figure out what's the right balance in order to help people make wiser choices...

[retsmah]

I'm not Christian, but isn't there something in the bible like "thou shalt not compareth Jordan Peterson and Elon Musk with Jesus twice in one post"?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Oh com'on, I'm not equating Peterson and Elon to Jesus! :p

About the only thing I admire about these folks, including Bernie Sanders, is their passion for their work. All of their respective ideologies have some merits and some shortcomings. Maybe the Gospel has no shortcomings, but even that won't be acceptable to all. Can't please everybody in a world freewill exists. Not even Almighty God.

Jesus was definitely not in the in-group at the time and was cancelled on the cross. I'd imagine if Jesus were on earth now, he probably won't be tweeting stupid things like Elon or Peterson, but that's only because Jesus is too awesome! :p

Anyway, my point is that people really need to stop focusing so much on ideologies. Every person will have their own sexual, political orientations... We don't have to agree with them all, but there's no need to jump to conclusion and believe they're dumbasses.

Peterson made that mistake and jumped to conclusion about Justin and CCP and that's pretty embarrassing for sure. However, in the field of psychology, I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about.

Likewise, I'm sure not all Tesla EVs and SpaceX rockets are dumbass products. Or there are just a bunch of super smart engineers working there putting that dumbass on a pedestal and submit to that dumbass as their boss?

Anyway, I really dislike the saying that "I don't tolerate those who are intolerant" as if we have justification to be intolerant. As if we shouldn't be racists, but it's okay to look down on white males because they've been racists for so long...

I don't believe we can fight intolerance or racism that way. Ending terrorism by terrorizing the terrorists so that they stop being terrorists. :rolleyes:

I really think Peterson has helped some of those poor white marginalized males. Seriously, not all white males are privileged. Helping those who need help doesn't make him a hateful nazi sympathizer.

Jesus was often criticized for hanging around the wrong crowd too.

What's he really doing there? You won't know until you find out. Of course humanity has tendency to rush to judgment and most would prefer to cancel Jesus 1st.

[retsmah]

There's no way I can prove this, but I did write my guess at what your response was before clicking the "view post" button:


Well in a lot of ways Elon and Jordan are like Jesus! In his time lots of people hated Jesus for his differnet views. And now you guys all hate Elon and Jordan for having different views from you! I hope you guys can change your views before Elon and Jordan end up like Jesus did!! ;p :) :D


I wasn't too far off!

(The 'differnet' was because I wrote it in notepad without spell check, wasn't an intentional part of it)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Different doesn't mean it's always right though. I'm not just trying to look for something different just for the sake of being different. I have carefully examined the scriptures and the bible and have determined that it's good. I can't see how Jesus' teaching to love God and one another can hurt humanity. I also don't see anything fraudulent about Peterson and Musk and Bernie... yet. If I do, I'd definitely turn on them too.

Plus, in Jesus' day, it's not like Israel was half with Jesus and half not. I think most were not with Jesus. At least Peterson and Elon have support of the conservatives now?

I also don't expect you guys to change your views about Elon or Peterson. It's okay to not like somebody. There's no need to twist people's arms to force them to like somebody they don't. Just as I don't believe it's right to force people to be polite. If it's not out of the goodness of your heart, please don't pretend for my sake! :p

I do want folks to carefully consider whether or not if they really know what they're hating. In order to truly have a diverse society, it'll contain lots of 'different' people. Can you respectfully agree to disagree and still be able to work with them or will you just give up because you think you're with bunch of dumbasses?

There are definitely people with lower IQs... so dumb that not even the army would let them join. Those dumbasses are that way due to their genes. They're definitely different too, but what can you do? Other than accept that and try your best to love them?

As for folks like Trump, Putin, Xi..., I'm sure they have their good qualities too. However, I think they're also sufficiently corrupted by their wealth and power and shouldn't be allowed to continue on leading their respective nations astray.

[FaultyMario]

We're the ones that all along have been saying that they're not exceptional, they're just humans, and shouldn't be put up on a pedestal.

Was twitter hacked today? I was getting a Doge sticker instead of the usual blue birdie when updating.

[FaultyMario]

nevermind. what a fucking idiot.

[retsmah]

No that's what it is now, seems like another crypto pump and dump scheme (https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/investing/dogecoin-elon-musk-twitter/index.html).

[Rare White Ape]

There's no way I can prove this, but I did write my guess at what your response was before clicking the "view post" button:



I wasn't too far off!

(The 'differnet' was because I wrote it in notepad without spell check, wasn't an intentional part of it)

If you look really closely at one of my posts from yesterday, you'll see that I actually did it first ;)

Edit to add: and of course, since the post I made, we are still going around and around in circles, seemingly held back by one brain cell.

Please everybody, utilise the ignore feature.

[Tom Servo]

Nope. Elon is as I saw him described - like a 14 year old that died in 2011 and a 19th century oil baron are both attempting to possess the same body at the same time.

And Billi - it must be so simple to live your life believing that people hate someone else for different views. I mean, you're incorrect both on the "hate" part and the reasoning for why I have my problems with them, but bless you and your naivete. In many ways, I'm jealous.

[Tom Servo]

Argh, I hate it when I don't realize there's another page of posts and realize I'm way late to the game. The "Nope" part was in response to Mario about the doge thing.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, I aim to live a simple life. Even as an engineer, I try to reduce complex problems down to smaller simpler more manageable sizes. In retrospect, system and gospel were probably also useful tools for me to simplify life’s complicated problems!

I think it’s clear a lot of people in this world don’t want to love their neighbors, even some supposedly Christians! Whatever people’s reasons are, it’s their free choice. I can certainly respect that.

I can also even agree with you that Peterson was pretty dumb or careless to be fooled again failing to learn his lessons the 1st time!

Maybe to him, compelling him to use special pronouns is as crazy as those crazy stories that he was duped by?

Anyway, like I said, if even Peterson can be fooled, it must’ve been easy to fool the general population when FOX hid the fact that they were ‘joking’ on a daily basis… and viewers took them seriously…

This is actually really sad. :(

[Yw-slayer]

Nope. Elon is as I saw him described - like a 14 year old that died in 2011 and a 19th century oil baron are both attempting to possess the same body at the same time.

And Billi - it must be so simple to live your life believing that people hate someone else for different views. I mean, you're incorrect both on the "hate" part and the reasoning for why I have my problems with them, but bless you and your naivete. In many ways, I'm jealous.

It's all Star Wars for him, man. Everyone is either Rebel Alliance or Empire, With us or against us, Hate or Love, etc. Typical brainwashed attitude.

[FaultyMario]

Argh, I hate it when I don't realize there's another page of posts and realize I'm way late to the game. The "Nope" part was in response to Mario about the doge thing.

Yeah, I kind of supposed that some of the responses were directed at me for being such a gullible idiot.

I mean, hiding under the protection of Doge? Like I posted over at twister, I hope the plaintiffs are awarded full compensation.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It's all Star Wars for him, man. Everyone is either Rebel Alliance or Empire, With us or against us, Hate or Love, etc. Typical brainwashed attitude.

Brainwashed or not, at least I don't attack people who I disagree with and I actually try to listen to their views. :)

I think in a way we're all probably somewhat brainwashed by society? You've reminded me of this interesting article that I read a while back:
https://medium.com/curious/four-telltale-signs-youre-dealing-with-someone-who-s-brainwashed-by-society-c8d1fbe8034e

I think one of the main reasons why I'm still here in this forum, particularly the political thread, is to check my own belief system with you guys'... it's kinda unfortunate that our forum is no longer as diverse as our earlier versions. Anyway, if everyone puts me on ignore, then it should be obvious to me that I'm doing something wrong and I probably should make some changes to my own belief system... or just the way I write my posts! :p

Anyway, I agree with that author's statement, saying that we need to constantly measure the quality of our lives with the quality of our beliefs. If my life sucks, maybe I need to readjust my belief a bit. If my belief system is constant and never changes, then something is probably wrong with me. Things like System and Christianity were me making adjustments. I'm still adjusting as I discover more things in life! :p

I am probably a bit brainwashed. However, I'm not brainwashed enough to believe US government can do no wrong. Or CCP is so awesome. These 2 are both playing the role of the evil empire. Of course they're not all bad either. They are still great nations. Believe it or not, I still love China and also America. Surely not all storm troopers are evil! Finn wasn't evil! :p

[retsmah]

I probably shouldn't ask, but what exactly do you think is good about Jordan Peterson? It seems like he was like a pretty normal professor, wrote a couple books, and then found he could get popular through right wing trolling, with a specific interest in trans-phobia.

Are you also an Andrew Tate fan?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Sorry, had to google Andrew Tate in order to know who that is... gee, you really think Peterson would kickbox the crap out of trans people if he has the chance and then be jailed? Com'on. Who do you really think Peterson is and who do you really think I am?

Can you take further guesses to see if you're right on about me before I answer? Who is Billi? If you're not really that interested in who Billi really is, then yeah, maybe you shouldn't ask and just keep the ignore feature turned on. That way, I won't bother you and you won't bother me. I know you don't hate me like Swervo doesn't hate me, but obviously I'm annoying enough to you guys. :p I don't want to cause any more allergic reactions for you guys... so thank God for ignore feature so that you guys can be protected. ;)

[sandydandy]

I know I wasn’t asked, but I’d like to share my thoughts on those two individuals.

Jordan Peterson - clearly a smart guy who used to say a lot of things that were in fact valid. A lot of it being common sense stuff, like being responsible etc. Unfortunately his negative views on the transgender community far overshadow anything good he has to say. Plus I don’t understand his justification in defending the gender pay gap.

I know he tries to distance himself from the far-right, (just like Ben Shapiro), and I could tolerate him in small doses before, but definitely not now. I don’t know what happened to him when he was out of the public’s eye for a couple of years, (when he was battling his drug addiction), but now that he’s back he seems to have embraced his MAGAt/QAnon cult following and is just like them. Evidenced by his mess of a Twitter account.

Andrew Tate - a guy who is completely useless. Though I respect the business strategy. Weaponizing hundreds, if not thousands, of shills to boost his image, enriching himself in the process, is not a bad business model. Even though it’s a pyramid scheme.

We know his minions probably make next to nothing, and are just trying to recoup the “tuition” money they paid to his Huckster University, (which I heard is now defunct). I do love how they all act rich themselves, and love to retort any criticism of their master with, “how many Bugattis do you own?” Uhh, how many do you own? I’d say none.

[Tom Servo]

I feel like both of those guys are the logical extension of "the algorithm", as much as I hate to use that term. The algorithm isn't this nefarious plot, it's years of fine tuning sites to give people what they're most likely to watch and keep them glued to the site so they watch more advertising. Nothing more than that. As Youtube and such came along, the ability to get real-time feedback on what landed and what didn't became a reality. You didn't wait for Nielsen ratings, you just got immediate results. Then, some people learned how to tune what they created to feed those results. That created a feedback loop - it's not a coincidence that almost everyone's Youtube preview image looks the same nowadays. Sites like Mixpanel and Google Analytics give you information on how your content performance with like a 30 second lead time. You basically know immediately if what you posted is landing or not.

Tate and Peterson, amongst others, are the product of that. Almost a Pavlovian feedback loop of greater engagement. Peterson doesn't care that he keeps posting nonsense without actually verifying any of it, he gets engagement. It sells subscriptions, it gets him ad revenue. Tate figured out that he could make tons of money by being an asshole, so he just fine-tuned his assholery.

Peterson used to occasionally say useful things, but was any of it revolutionary or interesting? Make your bed, clean your room...okay, but do you deserve a big platform for saying that, 'cause my mom could use some advertising revenue too. But if there was something good about him in the past, that's all gone now because he's just a whore to the advertising revenue algorithm now. He knows saying incendiary shit that riles up his base of people scared of change will make him money, and that's as far as that goes.

He's also weird as shit - check out the video of him apparently just now discovering the concept of live music if you want proof.

And in the end, Tate's a criminal who has what's coming to him. Peterson's just annoying. My big problem is when we've got people here going through really turbulent times in their lives, I think it's irresponsible at best and criminal negligence at worst to recommend his brand of idiocy as a way to help people who may need legitimate, non Youtube platitude help.

Ultimately, I think dril said it best:


go ahead. keep screaming "Shut The Fuck Up " at me. it only makes my opinions Worse

[retsmah]

(in response to ci)

I think you are right, I will go back to using the ignore feature.

To just close out that topic, my best guess is that you didn't know who Jordan Peterson was until he was mentioned in here and you decided to jump in to defend him. In the previous post where I asked you what you think is good about him I also offered my high level view on him. Your response is then "who do you think he is" even though I just told you. If you knew anything about him I think you'd at least offer up "12 rules for life" or something similar as a positive that he's contributed.

I asked about Andrew Tate because I'm wondering how far alt-right / manosphere you'll defend. It seems like maybe Tate is too far. Or not, who knows.

Anyway, I'll go back to ignoring. It's not because I disagree with your views, or "hate" you or whatever, it's just that as others discovered before me you're impossible to talk to. You state a position, when challenged will not defend it or you might even recant it, then immediately go back to stating that position again.

In contrast, I spoke with a coworker a couple years ago now that said something positive about Jordan Peterson, and I was like "oh no not Jordan Peterson". Then we had a conversation about what he's been doing recently and how it differs from what he was doing a few years back, and it was fine. I think he learned something about Peterson's more hateful recent stuff, and I talked to someone who was positively impacted by his earlier work. I'm generally up for discussing the guy, but the other party has to have something of substance to say about him.

[retsmah]

On Tate, Behind the Bastards has a (long) multi-part podcast on him that's interesting listening. The thing he seems to have done that's different is that he doesn't really directly post anything to social media, because he's banned from all of them, but he's got thousands of followers that do the reposting for him. It's somehow still effective, I still see reposted Andrew Tate videos in my youtube or facebook suggestions. Mostly in their reels or shorts or whatever they are calling it, where they are desperate to do anything to compete with tiktok

[Tom Servo]

my best guess is that you didn't know who Jordan Peterson was until he was mentioned in here and you decided to jump in to defend him

He's been a longtime fan and has recommended him to other people here. I honestly don't think anybody on here would even be talking about him were it not ci repeatedly bringing him up.

[Rare White Ape]

Don't forget Daddy Elon.

ooh yeah I'd slurp his knob juice all day and all night

[FaultyMario]

No perp walk?

NYPD, I am disappoint.

[neanderthal]

(in response to ci)

I think you are right, I will go back to using the ignore feature.

To just close out that topic, my best guess is that you didn't know who Jordan Peterson was until he was mentioned in here and you decided to jump in to defend him. In the previous post where I asked you what you think is good about him I also offered my high level view on him. Your response is then "who do you think he is" even though I just told you. If you knew anything about him I think you'd at least offer up "12 rules for life" or something similar as a positive that he's contributed.

I asked about Andrew Tate because I'm wondering how far alt-right / manosphere you'll defend. It seems like maybe Tate is too far. Or not, who knows.

Anyway, I'll go back to ignoring. It's not because I disagree with your views, or "hate" you or whatever, it's just that as others discovered before me you're impossible to talk to. You state a position, when challenged will not defend it or you might even recant it, then immediately go back to stating that position again.

In contrast, I spoke with a coworker a couple years ago now that said something positive about Jordan Peterson, and I was like "oh no not Jordan Peterson". Then we had a conversation about what he's been doing recently and how it differs from what he was doing a few years back, and it was fine. I think he learned something about Peterson's more hateful recent stuff, and I talked to someone who was positively impacted by his earlier work. I'm generally up for discussing the guy, but the other party has to have something of substance to say about him.

To put it ... um, politely; he's a fuckwit with the imagination and brevity of a dull rock.


I've been too engaged with the diarrhea he frequently posts in the past. I'm trying a new thing in my life and where I focus on the bigger picture and putting in the work. And ignoring him has been a glorious part of it.

[MR2 Fan]

No perp walk?

NYPD, I am disappoint.

and hearing not til December :smh:

[Crazed_Insanity]

Jordan Peterson - clearly a smart guy who used to say a lot of things that were in fact valid. A lot of it being common sense stuff, like being responsible etc. Unfortunately his negative views on the transgender community far overshadow anything good he has to say. Plus I don’t understand his justification in defending the gender pay gap.

https://youtu.be/K5f4fUDZU7o

This video explains your 2 points. I really don’t think he’s a homophobe, he just doesn’t like government compelling speech. He also doesn’t justify gender pay gap, but gave more detailed insight and explanations. For example, agreeable people just make less money than disagreeable people. Unfortunately women tend to be more agreeable than men, that’s why they’re disadvantaged. However, if we separate people into 4 groups, disagreeable men, disagreeable women, agreeable men, agreeable women, their pay order is actually in the order listed. So as you can see, some women could get ahead of some men, gender isn’t the main factor. Of course there are also other personality traits which caused disagreeable men to make more money than disagreeable women!

Anyway, do you really believe work can be divvied up equally? If all of your employees truly worked equally, who would you promote?

I personally believe we ought to have an equal living min wage. Then each person should be responsible for their own subsequent raises.


I know he tries to distance himself from the far-right, (just like Ben Shapiro), and I could tolerate him in small doses before, but definitely not now. I don’t know what happened to him when he was out of the public’s eye for a couple of years, (when he was battling his drug addiction), but now that he’s back he seems to have embraced his MAGAt/QAnon cult following and is just like them. Evidenced by his mess of a Twitter account.
I don’t really pay much attention to Twitter even after Elon’s takeover so I don’t know. Maybe he is mentally unwell due to his condition. However, I get the feeling people just want to mischaracterize him just as that reporter in my linked video.

I was 1st introduced to him thru his book. I actually got an audio version which he recorded. He doesn’t sound particularly pleasing but at times really moved me with his emotions. I later on binge watched bunch of his lectures as I grew more interested in psychology. I even found he has great insights with his Biblical lectures as well.

I think he was in favor of trump but only because Hillary. I don’t believe he supports trump now. Now he supports DeSantis… well, I am not brainwashed enough to vote for that guys! :p

[Crazed_Insanity]

and hearing not til December :smh:

I’m beginning to think this is a bad idea. Conviction doesn’t disqualify him, so why continue to give him free publicity?

[Crazed_Insanity]

(in response to ci)

I think you are right, I will go back to using the ignore feature.

To just close out that topic, my best guess is that you didn't know who Jordan Peterson was until he was mentioned in here and you decided to jump in to defend him. In the previous post where I asked you what you think is good about him I also offered my high level view on him. Your response is then "who do you think he is" even though I just told you. If you knew anything about him I think you'd at least offer up "12 rules for life" or something similar as a positive that he's contributed.

I asked about Andrew Tate because I'm wondering how far alt-right / manosphere you'll defend. It seems like maybe Tate is too far. Or not, who knows.

Anyway, I'll go back to ignoring. It's not because I disagree with your views, or "hate" you or whatever, it's just that as others discovered before me you're impossible to talk to. You state a position, when challenged will not defend it or you might even recant it, then immediately go back to stating that position again.

In contrast, I spoke with a coworker a couple years ago now that said something positive about Jordan Peterson, and I was like "oh no not Jordan Peterson". Then we had a conversation about what he's been doing recently and how it differs from what he was doing a few years back, and it was fine. I think he learned something about Peterson's more hateful recent stuff, and I talked to someone who was positively impacted by his earlier work. I'm generally up for discussing the guy, but the other party has to have something of substance to say about him.

I couldn’t believe you’re that genuine after comparing Peterson to a kickboxing human trafficker…

But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.

To sum it up, Peterson sold ‘responsibility’ to a generation of aimless hopeless men and he’s like a father these guys never had. I personally wouldn’t mind him if my dad were more like Peterson. He really has a lot of great insight on many things, but his main thing is obviously psychology. Maybe you can listen to his old psychology lectures on YouTube in order to not get too offended by him. If I had a psychology professor like him back at school, I might’ve switched major! ;)

[retsmah]

He's been a longtime fan and has recommended him to other people here. I honestly don't think anybody on here would even be talking about him were it not ci repeatedly bringing him up.

I stand corrected! Sounds like there's no need to go over him yet again!

[Crazed_Insanity]

(in response to ci)

To just close out that topic, my best guess is that you didn't know who Jordan Peterson was until he was mentioned in here and you decided to jump in to defend him.

Obviously your best guess was correct? How are you standing correctly?



I asked about Andrew Tate because I'm wondering how far alt-right / manosphere you'll defend. It seems like maybe Tate is too far. Or not, who knows.
Who the fuck cares about Andrew Tate? Why is everything about MAGA Alt right? Why do you see the need to involve him in our discussion? I admire Jordan Peterson. I'd vote Bernie Sanders for president in a heart beat. I don't like the current state of both Republican and Democratic party... because I'm a brainwashed simpleton I guess.



In contrast, I spoke with a coworker a couple years ago now that said something positive about Jordan Peterson, and I was like "oh no not Jordan Peterson". Then we had a conversation about what he's been doing recently and how it differs from what he was doing a few years back, and it was fine. I think he learned something about Peterson's more hateful recent stuff, and I talked to someone who was positively impacted by his earlier work. I'm generally up for discussing the guy, but the other party has to have something of substance to say about him.
That conversation was obviously a waste of time of your coworker too, right? Andrew Tate was of zero substance. Yet, you're allowed to bring him up, but my words are all with zero substance. Just as Peterson's words will also likely be of zero substance to you. I will always give you the benefit of the doubt in the future, but if you want to live inside your boxed ideology, that is also your choice. I can't force you out.

I keep my life simple. I really don't feel the need to ignore anybody. However, if others wish to ignore me, I can certainly respect that. Just saying our political polarization happens exactly because 2 sides ignore the other side and don't care to know what the other side is really about. oh well, that's human nature I suppose.

[retsmah]

No perp walk?

NYPD, I am disappoint.

I sort of am, but also it probably is good to prevent it from turning into a circus. I think Trump would be a lot better at riling up his supporters if he was put in handcuffs and walked out in front of the public.

I don't have links at the moment, but it seems like his supporters don't really want to come out in any numbers in New York because they think 1. That it could be a setup because many of them actually believe Jan. 6 was all under cover antifa 2. Saw how Trump threw his supporters under the bus on Jan 6 and 3. Kind of ironically are afraid of the NYPD

[retsmah]

Oh boy, I was weak and briefly clicked "View Post".

I just want to note that the phrase "I stand corrected" in one of my previous posts is a commonly used phrase "used to admit that something you have said or done was wrong" (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/i-stand-corrected). It was acknowledging that my previous post was incorrect.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Oh man, I stand corrected too then for my failure to comprehend an idiom properly.

[Kchrpm]

I am here to add the Clarence Thomas bullshit revealed:

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

[Crazed_Insanity]

Not surprised. Based on his rulings, Clarence Thomas just doesn't seem like a very just justice.

[FaultyMario]

I am here to add the Clarence Thomas bullshit revealed:

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

As always, the Onion (https://www.theonion.com/supreme-court-justices-all-reading-about-clarence-thoma-1850308467).

[Tom Servo]

As always, the Onion (https://www.theonion.com/supreme-court-justices-all-reading-about-clarence-thoma-1850308467).

Oh, that's a good one.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Justice Thomas said these family trips with dear friends don't really need to be reported!

Must be nice to have rich dear friends to be able to pay for your family trips! My rich attorney friend only let me drive his Ferrari and Porsche at times, but never took my family out on a nice fancy trip! What lousy friends I have... Maybe when he becomes a billionaire, he'll finally pay for my trips too? :p

[retsmah]

I am here to add the Clarence Thomas bullshit revealed:

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

The level of corruption we have to accept in this country is insane. Of course he won't be held accountable for clearly breaking the law, because it's up to congress to do it.


On the opposite end of the judge impeachment spectrum: in Wisconsin, the newest GOP state senator has said he would consider impeaching newly elected liberal justice Janet Protasiewicz (https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/03/27/knodl-says-he-would-consider-impeaching-protasiewicz-if-hes-in-senate/70052973007/) from the state supreme court. At the time he made that statement she had not even won the seat yet, so it's a little hard to justify how she had already done something worth impeachment. (At the time he made the statement he had not won his seat either)

Assuming that doesn't happen though, it seems positive that Wisconsin now has a liberal majority supreme court that can help address gerrymandering (https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/wisconsins-assembly-maps-are-more-skewed-than-ever-what-happens-in-2023/) and abortion access. It's crazy that the GOP has a not just a majority but a 33-22 supermajority in the state senate (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/05/wisconsin-senate-supermajority-impeachment-power), even though in a popular vote the state went slightly towards Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and something like 55 to 45 for Protasiewicz in the most recent election.

[neanderthal]

Make no mistake, the shenanigans in Tennessee have been enabled by the current supreme court. The willful and complete disregard for the law, morals, ethics, etc, all enabled by this current supreme court.

Like a broken record I'm gonna say it: we said in 2016, that the supreme court was on the line, abortion was in the line, etc etc.

Here we fucking are.

[neanderthal]

And the number of times we were told we were over reacting ...

[Yw-slayer]

Meanwhile, Billi and western msm hate Chandran Nair and K. Shanmugan. Billi and western msm remain desperate to stoke the fires of war for their own purposes and bullshit child-level Star Wars storylines.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, clearly US is using the same playbook with Taiwan as what we did with Ukraine. Except there’s no NATO in Asia and there’s less of a concern China having enough nukes to destroy the world. Most pacific rim nations are ready to fight China. It’s mind boggling to see US warships side by side with Japanese warships nowadays…

Anyway, so now we can only hope Xi won’t also use the same play book Putin was reading…

Another way out would be come 2024, Taiwanese decides to vote for a more pro China government and cut ties with US and surrender to officially become part of communist China…

Personally I want neither. However, I’d prefer no war. Hopefully status quo can just be dragged out I guess. Waiting for Xi to die…

[neanderthal]

As always, the Onion (https://www.theonion.com/supreme-court-justices-all-reading-about-clarence-thoma-1850308467).

The Onion, like the internet, is never defeated.

[retsmah]

There's been some fuckery going on at twitter around previous limitations placed on Russian and Chinese state controlled media:

On the authoritarian side, a bunch of restrictions have been removed from Russian accounts (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2023/04/07/elon-musk-twitter-lifts-restrictions-putin-kremlin-russia/), and they've removed limits on 'state-affiliated media' from Russia and China (https://www.semafor.com/article/04/05/2023/twitter-falls-short-in-policing-russian-and-chinese-state-backed-media).

On the more liberal side, 4 days ago they labeled NPR as state-affiliated media (https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168158549/twitter-npr-state-affiliated-media). They just backtracked a little on that and changed the label to "government funded media" (https://fortune.com/2023/04/09/elon-musk-gives-npr-bbc-government-funded-media-twitter-label/), and applied the same thing to the BBC.

A kind of funny side note, at the time twitter labeled NPR state affiliated media, they still had a page on their website up that explained why that label should not be applied to NPR and the BBC. It said "State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy"


For an infrequent twitter user like myself they've been successful at reducing confidence in anything I read on the platform, which I think is more or less the goal. One of my friends shared a funny post from what is I think the National Park Service, but I don't know for sure and I don't really want to try to keep up with all the changes in tick mark colors, at this point it's easier to go to an organizations website and follow their twitter link, making the 'verification' system pointless.

[Tom Servo]

Kinda feels like they should label Space X and Tesla as government funded as well, considering they both got significantly more money from the feds than NPR did.

[sandydandy]

I was watching the very exciting UFC 287 last night, and guess who was in attendance in Miami? The orange man himself. There to supposedly support Jorge Masvidal, but like every Trump-backed candidate before him, he lost. After the fight Masvidal began fellating Trump hard, and started a “let’s go Brandon” chant. It was pathetic.

Leave politics out of sport FFS.

[retsmah]

Kinda feels like they should label Space X and Tesla as government funded as well, considering they both got significantly more money from the feds than NPR did.

Maybe Twitter itself as well, since Saudi Arabia owns 4% of it (https://www.axios.com/2022/11/01/elon-musk-twitter-saudi-arabia).

[FaultyMario]

Leave politics out of sport FFS.

Ever since they were invented everywhere, sports have been quintessentially political.

I feel like you want to say something about certain forms of politickering in sports, but I wouldn't venture out what.

[sandydandy]

I feel like you want to say something about certain forms of politickering in sports, but I wouldn't venture out what. Just taking a shot at those people who complain when sports organizations do something progressive. NBA supports the BLM movement, NHL is recognizing Pride events. Opponents of those movements like to sing the phrase "leave politics out of sports". But when their side does it then it seems to be perfectly ok.

[Crazed_Insanity]

People are typically hypocrites. Yeah, from Oscars to F1, some celebs just can't shut up. Anyway, like them or hate them, agree with them or not, I can respect their right to their speech.

With regard to social media, that's a huge headache.

Right was pissed at twitter and now the left. Is there really a way to make everyone happy? Probably not.

Regarding NPR, I think it's unfortunate that they used a name like "National Public Radio". It just appears very nationalistic and governmental! :p Conservatives don't like NPR and obviously Elon has been surrounding himself with more and more conservatives. However, even Elon is acknowledging that NPR was mislabeled, but I wonder why he wouldn't get rid of that label. Technically 1~2% of government funding makes the label not wrong, but yeah, Tesla and SpaceX would be government funded companies as well using that standard. Sigh... Hopefully that label for NPR will eventually disappear like that doggy logo?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Elon has finally done it. Twitter is gone! :p

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/elon-musk-just-murdered-twitter-and-heres-why-he-did-it?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

I think it's clear now that 'free speech' was not the real reason why he bought Twitter. He bought it for his X Corp., which will supposedly be the everything everywhere app! The only thing I'm hoping for is that he'll make bitcoin more user friendly. US dollars definitely should NOT be the only reserve currency of the world.

Anyway, my mind is still more anxious with the possible war between China and US. I'm pretty sure neither country can really survive a sustained war. China should be in a weaker economic situation, but then US has to fight Russia, Iran AND China? I suppose US has done it before and could do it again? Fighting against these centralized governments were never a problem for US. It's the decentralized warfare that US couldn't win...

[FaultyMario]

The narrative of the rich genius is necessary to justify inequality but the fact is that a lot of these people simply are not very smart.

Ed Burmila at Twitter.

[Crazed_Insanity]

What's the context of that?

Anyway, clearly not everyone is 'equally' smart. What can be done to make smarter people dumber and dumb people smarter in order to equalize intelligence? If people have different IQs, is it justifiable for dumber people to protest about that?

Of course we probably could solve the IQ inequality by cloning our population so that every clone is equal and identical. No more smart people and no more dumb people. However, is that what we really want?

It's important for us to pursue equality, but not at all cost. We are simply too unique to be all equal.

[JoshInKC]

Just a quick drop-in to mention that the only thing IQ is actually a good metric for, is results in taking an IQ test. It is not actually useful for much beyond that.
There's a ton of scholarship on this accessible through a quick google search.

[retsmah]

When Twitter/Elon labeled NPR as "state-affiliated media", I joked to my fiance that he's probably one of those guys that thinks FedEx is a government agency based on the "Fed" in the name.

Even as a person who has lost most respect for the guy I still find myself giving him an undue benefit of the doubt, I guess because he's rich. At the time I didn't actually believe that he thought NPR was a government news agency just because it has "National Public" in the title, but it appears that actually is what he thought (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/04/musk-admits-npr-isnt-state-affiliated-after-asking-questions-he-could-have-googled/). The decision to change this label was made with zero knowledge of how NPR works.

[retsmah]

Sorry still on the twitter topic: This video of Matt Taibbi getting grilled (https://www.thedailybeast.com/msnbc-host-mehdi-hasan-makes-matt-taibbi-squirm-over-his-twitter-files-errors) about his "Twitter Files" is a fun watch. I've listened the part of his 2018 Joe Rogan interview about the 2008 financial crisis and thought it seemed pretty good, what he's up to now is a little sad.

In a real "leopards ate my face" (https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces-party) moment he's quit Twitter (https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/7/23674705/twitter-files-elon-musk-substack-matt-taibbi) because the "free speech" platform blocked any links to Substack, where he publishes his writing.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Just a quick drop-in to mention that the only thing IQ is actually a good metric for, is results in taking an IQ test. It is not actually useful for much beyond that.
There's a ton of scholarship on this accessible through a quick google search.

I think that’s another problem. The metrics that we’re measuring. Are we measuring the right/meaningful things?

Equal work equal pay, how do we measure equal work?

Rather than focusing on equal pay for all, probably should focus on living wage for all. We all can’t attend the best universities Or receive the best medical care, but we all should at least have basic versions of it? If we have people who couldn’t make living wage, why should I care if a female CEO makes less than a male CEO?

[Crazed_Insanity]

When Twitter/Elon labeled NPR as "state-affiliated media", I joked to my fiance that he's probably one of those guys that thinks FedEx is a government agency based on the "Fed" in the name.

Even as a person who has lost most respect for the guy I still find myself giving him an undue benefit of the doubt, I guess because he's rich. At the time I didn't actually believe that he thought NPR was a government news agency just because it has "National Public" in the title, but it appears that actually is what he thought (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/04/musk-admits-npr-isnt-state-affiliated-after-asking-questions-he-could-have-googled/). The decision to change this label was made with zero knowledge of how NPR works.

Clearly he’s not a Mr know it all. I give him the benefit of the doubt not because he’s rich, but because he has grown Tesla and SpaceX. I doubt he succeeded because he’s rich. He’s only that rich because he succeeded. For sure he’s also been fortunate enough, but I’m pretty sure he couldn’t possibly succeed all due to dumb luck.

People of opposite political spectrums will often mischaracterize opponents. Elon took national public too literally. Biden thought GM is the global leader in EVs! It doesn’t really matter what they think as long as we don’t get brainwashed by them. Also regardless of what we think, one is still rich and one is still the president!

I only hope they’re really ignorant and not know the real truth rather than purposefully distorting truth.

[Crazed_Insanity]

It was painful to watch that BBC interview with Elon. BBC should’ve sent a better journalist. Clearly that guy was only interested in making Elon look bad. He also didn’t do enough home work. Probably assumed Elon is an idiot and he should be able to make Elon look bad with his superior attitude alone?

The spar with NPR hopefully can end better. I can totally understand NPR suspending Twitter until it’s correctly labeled. I hope npr will continue to push back and hold Elon responsible. Although Elon would tweet out childish responses like Pedo guy or defund npr, I really don’t think Elon is the type who’d see a mistake he’s made and refuse to change and fix.

If I were npr, at least I’d challenge Elon to put the same labels for his own government funded companies as well. Just to be fair. Hope NPR won’t just put Elon on ignore just as Biden doesn’t see Tesla… well too bad NASA can’t ignore SpaceX yet.

This much politics is really really stupid.

[Blerpa]

Probably assumed Elon is an idiot

Assuming? Isn't common knowledge Elon is a full fledged idiot? What period are we living? 2019?

[Crazed_Insanity]

Did you see that interview?

BBC journalist was the obvious smart one? He came away looking good and smart?

If I were a journalist and I know somebody is an idiot or a mass killer or whatever lost cause, I wouldn’t bother interviewing that person. If I’m gonna interview somebody, I’d try to put away my bias and do my due diligence.

Lastly, if idiots can start companies and make themselves rich, we’d all be rich by now. Heck, I’ll probably be the richest guy here! ;)

[Tom Servo]

Speaking of Elon, this article is pretty much on point.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-musk-isnt-funny-bad-jokes-twitter-1234712950/

[Rare White Ape]

It has seemed for a long time that Musk has developed some sort of messiah complex.

And those who blindly follow him seem predisposed to blindly following other outsized so-called intellectuals of recent times, and from old books.

The lack of criticism from these follower types is a dangerous blight on society.

[Tom Servo]

Heh, I think it's safe to say the guy who says he's taking humanity to Mars because it's the only way to save civilization definitely has a messiah complex.

[retsmah]

I feel like maybe I've mentioned it here already, but Behind the Bastards has a good two part podcast on libertarian sea nation (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-one-the-not-at-all-sad-history-of-libertarian/id1373812661?i=1000543473611)s. I think an Elon run Mars colony would be a much more disastrous version of this.

The short summary of these podcasts was that anytime libertarians attempt to build their own ocean societies they almost immediately end up making shitty recreations of the government agencies they were trying to escape, before failing. Mars is a much more dangerous and difficult to reach environment than international waters on Earth.

[Tom Servo]

Oh yeah, I just heard about that with Prospera. It definitely aligns with Elon, this feeling of something like "I have arrived with all the answers, and will be the saviour of mankind" and then just finding out all the shit they could have known beforehand if they just bothered to listen to anybody else.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m not sure Elon wants to get his ass to Mars because he wants to be king of Mars.

I’m an admirer of him and I have faith in him running companies, but running a country is quite different. Even if he could qualify to run for president, I’m not sure I’d vote for him. I also really don’t think he’d run for such office. He stutters and is kinda childish… just not very presidential.

He’s just good at making things work.

Yeah, not every single one of his idea works, but the ones that worked are already pretty darn impressive.

If you can build a sub to help boys from drowning or if you can help Ukraine communicate better using satellite, if you can help electrify auto industry, if you can help NASA to stop relying on Russian rockets to get to space…, is that really a messiah complex that he’s suffering?

Fuck Elon, just go back to South Africa okay? We don’t need your stinking ideas!

From another perspective, humanity tend to have an inadequacy complex. Rumor has it that the real meesiah they saw 2000 years ago, they’ve decided to kill him off!

Anyway, just want to be clear that I don’t see Elon as a messiah and I’d never vote for him into any political office. However, he can be ceo of my company any time, if I have a company that is… :p

[neanderthal]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1647043510544273408?t=XRgVCL6XWTiK-bjo-U4SQw&s=19

[MR2 Fan]

more for Politics thread than the AI thread as Elon Musk announces he's making "TruthGPT".......about finding the truth of the universe. Where does he announce this "fact finding AI"? Fox News :smh:

[Tom Servo]

I also like that he said that he wants to let AI reach the singularity because basically he and Catturd2 are so awesome the AI would spare them in the coming purge.

[Rare White Ape]

The last time I let an uncaring AI control my destiny it was James fucking Cameron who chronicled it.

[Yw-slayer]

What could possibly go wrong?!?!

[retsmah]

I tried to watch the tucker carlson / elon interview, it's a painful watch. We found the guy who thinks he's funny though!

It's hard to understand why, if he thinks it's a problem that there are privately owned AI companies with no government oversight, that the solution is another privately owned AI company with no government oversight.

It's also very hard to take him seriously about making a 'truth seeking' AI or whatever, given that it's basically exactly the same thing (https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-twitter-must-be-most-accurate-source-of-information-earth-2022-11) he said about Twitter, and we've seen that he is very personally involved in making changes to twitter to be biased towards his views and against those he disagrees with.

...as another example, CBC has paused it's use of twitter as well. Elon labeled it as "69% government funded" (https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/canadas-cbc-says-twitter-not-serious-after-69-government-funded-media-label-2023-04-18/), because 69 and 420 are the two jokes he knows.

[retsmah]

Another thing I think is dumb about this twitter labeling of news sources is that there's not anything fundamentally wrong with a public media outlet that gets it's funding from the government. It was being highlighted for a couple Russian and Chinese news sources because 1. they're government owned and the government is taking an active editorial role and 2. those governments are pretty close to being dictatorships.

If you have a functioning democracy funding a public media outlet that is, I think, potentially the best or one of the best ways to get unbiased news.

I mean, while we're labeling funding sources, why aren't Fox News and the Washington Post labeled as "Billionaire Controlled News Media"

[FaultyMario]

because billionaires are not lacking in class solidarity.

The very rich and powerful will always look after their collective interests in ways that are more active and meaningful than what the rest of us can do.

[MR2 Fan]

Another thing I think is dumb about this twitter labeling of news sources is that there's not anything fundamentally wrong with a public media outlet that gets it's funding from the government. It was being highlighted for a couple Russian and Chinese news sources because 1. they're government owned and the government is taking an active editorial role and 2. those governments are pretty close to being dictatorships.

If you have a functioning democracy funding a public media outlet that is, I think, potentially the best or one of the best ways to get unbiased news.

I mean, while we're labeling funding sources, why aren't Fox News and the Washington Post labeled as "Billionaire Controlled News Media"


because being a billionaire is aspirational for people, being a government official, mostly, isn't. So calling it billionaire controlled doesn't deter enough people.

[Tom Servo]

Another thing I think is dumb about this twitter labeling of news sources is that there's not anything fundamentally wrong with a public media outlet that gets it's funding from the government. It was being highlighted for a couple Russian and Chinese news sources because 1. they're government owned and the government is taking an active editorial role and 2. those governments are pretty close to being dictatorships.

If you have a functioning democracy funding a public media outlet that is, I think, potentially the best or one of the best ways to get unbiased news.

I mean, while we're labeling funding sources, why aren't Fox News and the Washington Post labeled as "Billionaire Controlled News Media"

You're not wrong. People complain all the time about sensationalized news that basically just follows the "if it bleeds, it leads" mantra, but that's what you get when you have advertising-driven news. Having a guaranteed source of funding that then stays out of editorial is, to me, a significantly better way to get actually useful news that's well reported.

[retsmah]

Fox News and Dominion have settled just before going to trial, with Fox paying Dominion $787.5 million (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fox-news-dominion-voting-systems-lawsuit-settlement/). My quick look says that Fox News has 4.6 billion in quarterly revenue and $531 million in profit, so $787.5 seems painful but not the end of the world for them.

It should be a big deal that we've got clear evidence of the biggest news outlet in the US intentionally fabricating stories supporting a former President's attempt to overturn election results, but I guess we know their viewership doesn't care.

[Tom Servo]

The real bummer about that is they managed to avoid having to say on air what they lied about.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Any person or organization will end up with some sort of bias one way or another, regardless of funding source.

I'm certainly a proponent of free speech, but people, especially news media, should not be allowed to 'intentionally' spread lies.

Making them pay $797 million is a good start I guess, but I wish regulators can do more about that in the age of fake news.

[Tom Servo]

I am shocked and horrified that Kucinich is an advisor to and gave an intro speech for RFK Jr.

RFK Jr. is an anti-vaxx conspiracy theorist who believes in every Bill Gates/5G/vaccine thing under the sun. He's made it his life's mission over the past decade or so. He, and Kucinich, both just danced around all that but didn't actually say it at all in their speeches today.

Goddammit. I thought Kucinich was one of the good guys. I voted for him in the primaries. Now he's just another lunatic.

[FaultyMario]

https://lepoing.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/50abc66_1658594559366-5c9309c52400003500c735f3.jpg

Baby, you got all the puppets with their strings up
Fakin' like a good one, but I call 'em like I see 'em
I know what you are, what you are, baby

Privatizer, Priva-Privatizer, you're a Privatizer

[neanderthal]

The real bummer about that is they managed to avoid having to say on air what they lied about.

Exactly what I thought. They (Dominion) should've taken less money but made all the Faux News personalities apologise, and state what what they were apologising for, with specifics!!!

At this point I think they (Dominion) are in on it for not insisting on that.

[Tom Servo]

Well, Dominion were looking at like $10 million a year in revenue. Even if their legal counsel takes 30% or so, they basically just got like 50x their yearly revenue in one fell swoop. I get why they did that, and I have a feeling they know that Fox won't repeat the same lies lest they get slapped again.

Dominion sadly does not have an obligation to protect the American public from shitty news channels, so I get why they chose to settle. It's ultimately unsatisfying for the rest of us, but I don't necessarily blame them.

[neanderthal]

There's still more suits. Dominion was just the first domino. Hopefully the others wring an apology, with specifics, out of Faux.

[Crazed_Insanity]

The annoying part is that even if FOX or Trump could be removed permanently, there will still be others moving in to quickly fill the void.

My theory is that when there's an unexplained void, conservatives tend to want to embrace the mystical things such as religion or conspiracy theories more.

Liberals tend to further embrace and hang on to their knowledge, logic and reasons and then pretend as if they know everything and conclude that the void doesn't really exist.

[2ndMoparMan]

There's still more suits. Dominion was just the first domino. Hopefully the others wring an apology, with specifics, out of Faux.

Will never happen.

[Yw-slayer]

functioning democracy funding a public media outlet that is, I think, potentially the best or one of the best ways to get unbiased news.

Nope. All news and reporting is biased. It depends on towards what, for what purpose, and why, but it's always biased. Always accept this then adjust for the source.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Actually agree with YW. Everyone will have their own bias one way or another. We don’t have to make a moral judgement about their various biases, just think of it as different camera angles, you end up seeing different things… in order to gain a complete understanding, we need to see the thing play out with all camera angles…

Now, if a news camera deliberately lies about what they’re showing, that’s a problem.

[Tom Servo]

Nope. All news and reporting is biased. It depends on towards what, for what purpose, and why, but it's always biased. Always accept this then adjust for the source.

Well, yeah. I guess maybe it would have been more accurate to say "the least biased" news. A news org not beholden to ratings or advertisers that also doesn't hand over editorial control to the state I still think is the closest thing you're going to get.

[Rare White Ape]

For reference we have a state-funded free-to-air news source (Australian Broadcasting Corporation - the ABC) and the right wing government has been claiming it is biased to the left for ages.

A study about 5 years ago found it was actually biased slightly to the right.

Sky News (Owned by Murdoch and basically Fox News-lite here, and available on the paid Foxtel subscription TV service) has been pushing for the ABC to be privatised for more than 5 years. In some rural areas Sky News has been broadcast over the air for free, and is available as a free channel on Virgin Australia flights. Sky News has made comments in the past saying that it should take over the regional community and emergency broadcast systems from the ABC, because it claims that it can do a better job than existing government-funded services. Presumably the channel would receive government funding to provide these services.

The ABC has in the last decade had a staffing shake-up. The chairperson appointed in 2019 is a former magazine editor, and personality of commercial TV breakfast infotainment shows presented by News Ltd employees. Many of its news presenters are former Sky News presenters. Members of its board are also former Murdoch or Liberal Party employees and members.

As a result, the closest thing we have to unbiased news coverage is actually independently funded. Not government. Not business. Independent, via subscriber income, YouTube, or internet ads.

One example is Michael West Media. Another is Independent Australia. Another is New Matilda.

Some say Crikey is independently funded, but it is partially owned by an ABC news presenter.

You have to be REALLY critical to weed out the shit. Luckily our independent news outlets are reasonably strong.

[JSGeneral]

...Luckily our independent news outlets are reasonably strong.

That reporting is biased.

[Rare White Ape]

That reporting is biased.

https://www.memetemplate.in/uploads/1638537794.jpeg

[Cam]

I probably find that more funny than I think I should. So bizarre it's hilarious. :lol:

It's like doing a mash-up of Tori Amos and Metallica.