Printable View
How/why is it different? The impression I get from polls etc is that at least 80% of Republicans these days are full-on Trumpists who don't want to see or hear any evil about him, while most of the rest prefer to keep their heads down because they don't want to side with 'liberals'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben in LA
It’s because they’re full-on Trumpists that don’t want to listen to facts and there’s no point of me wasting my time arguing with them, even if my arguments are valid and based in reality.Quote:
Originally Posted by filghy2
I know. I was asking why you said it's a different situation on Twitter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben in LA
It would be nice to have intelligent conservatives who could actually debate issues based on evidence, through I doubt that these discussions ever really change anybody's mind. The best you can ever do is to draw information to the attention of people who may be open to receiving it. As the poster above said, the only solution is for people to get motivated and vote out those who support this kind of thing.
Careful what you wish for, Flighty.Quote:
Originally Posted by filghy2
Define "outrages." Better yet, I'll define it for you. "Outrages" are what happens anytime liberals don't get exactly what they want. "Outrages" are also what happens anytime infants or chimpanzees don't get exactly what they want.Quote:
Originally Posted by filghy2
I'm perfectly willing to engage in sensible and honest discussion with liberals. The problem is, I've never encountered a liberal who had any better argument than "Here's how things OUGHT to be..."
Been working for the last couple of weeks with this young guy - son-of-a-friend kind of thing. Kid wants to learn about turbos. And this kid is a liberal, always spouting off about this right or that injustice, anti-gun rhetoric, the usual liberal nonsense; much to the amusement of me and the other older guys who pop in now and then. And you know what this kid's hobby is? Immortality. You heard me right. Immortality via prosthetics - kid wants to replace his body over time with robotic parts, including the organs. This young man doesn't even have a pot to piss in (lives with his parents, drives a car given to him by his father, only income is his allowance), but instead of thinking about getting his life together, he's thinking about becoming Iron Man.
This social anomaly is no surprise to me. In fact it wouldn't have surprised me if the kid was into voodoo or My Little Pony. There is no moral, religious, or practical point to which a liberal can aspire far out enough on the bizarro chart to surprise me. Because I think of liberals as children.
Liberals are children and their parents are the bespectacled, over-educated scions of uncommon sense and impractical application of power in Washington called the Democratic Party.
The economy is in great shape, and the USA looks to be on-course for indefinite prosperity under the Trump administration. It's too bad a man like Donald Trump was forced to rise to power on the backs of the religious right. But that's how it had to happen, and now you have a problem with transgender rights as Trump (necessarily) caters to his power base.
Any man in power is obligated. In retrospect, it seems obvious that Obama was obligated to the good old military-industrial complex, since he ended up not only reneging on his campaign promise to pull us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but actually increasing our presence in both of those shitholes. Bush was obligated to Big Oil. Trump is obligated to the religious right and his own business interests, which rely on American preeminence to prosper. So Donald Trump's interests, and the interests of the average American citizen, happen to run parallel right now.
The liberal cacophony (one that has taken on the distinct flavor of good old-fashioned "playa-hating") is becoming background noise as continued success proves to be its own reward for President Donald Trump.
The pendulum always swings back the other way though. When transgenders do get their full rights (2024), it will be in a more prosperous and stable country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3V00h8tnkQuote:
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
I must admit your reappearance took me by surprise Nick, though everything you've said here is entirely predictable. I thought you might have found a new career that was keeping you too busy to post here - a writer of tall stories, perhaps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
I'm not going to get sucked into playing a pointless game of whack-a-mole with you, particularly as the only thing you have to say on the topic of this thread is that the rights of transsexuals are a necessary sacrifice to 'Make America Great Again'.
[QUOTE=Nick Danger;1858515]
I'm perfectly willing to engage in sensible and honest discussion with liberals. The problem is, I've never encountered a liberal who had any better argument than "Here's how things OUGHT to be..."
--Nick, Welcome back.
I don't know anything about turbos, so I assume your teaching skills will help your young friend learn a skill.
The question is basic: what are Rights? The US with its Constitution is based fundamentally on Rights. But if Rights are extended to a group of Americans -in this case, that minority who are Transgendered or define themselves other than as either Male or Female- but these Rights are then taken away, were they actually Rights in the Constitutional or legal sense? And if the extension of Rights is an advance, can we agree that taking them away is a reversal? And, if it is easy to select Transgendered Americans for punishment -given that their opponents believe they are undermining American society- why not take rights away from other Americans? Crucially, do Rights have any meaning if they can be given one year, taken away the next?
It presents itself as Un-American to those who see Rights as the foundation of the USA.
The economy is in great shape, and the USA looks to be on-course for indefinite prosperity under the Trump administration.
--Nick, just because it looks good and feels good doesn't mean that it is. Think of yourself at a party where everyone is getting drunk, careless of the hangover to follow.
The 45th President is presiding over the economic growth that has been taking place since his predecessor and his team stabilized the US economy after the Republican Crash of 2008, though he is too vain and selfish a person to honour that legacy. His own policies now threaten that legacy and the growth you crow about.
One could cite the turbulence on the Stock Market caused by the rolling impact of Tariffs, a foolish move that has already forced the 45th President to turn away from liberalism and conservatism and do what socialists are claimed to do -give away other people's money to lost causes -such as the $12 Billion instant subsidy to Soy Bean farmers who lost contracts with China -a direct result of his stupid policy-on top of the $25 Billion annual subsidy to farmers who can't make a profit on the open market.
One could cite the Pork Barrel politics of the Swamp that 45 was supposed to drain that 'earmarks' tax payer dollars to the tune of billions and billions of dollars to keep their Districts and their State in work -call it 'Swamp Sociaism' why don't you?- thus:
The $593 million earmark for the continued upgrade of the M1 Abrams tank is an increase of 1,383 percent over the $40 million earmarked in FY 2016
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinio...umn/792588002/
see also
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...ending-in-2018
If you aren't bothered by Republican Socialism, you could ponder the longer term problem that under the 45th President the US economy is over-heating and may be headed for a recession, as if the President cared!
Trump’s fiscal policy is moving from loose to reckless: plans for tax cut 2.0 are solidifying, even though the first round of cuts is likely to produce unsustainable deficits. Little thought is being given to the consequences other than the effect on the November elections.
and
The second cloud is excessive debt.....So far, consumers seem able to carry the debt they have taken on. Credit card delinquencies remain low at 2.4 percent. But savings rates are also low: 40 percent of adults say they would not be able to pay all their bills if faced with a $400 emergency, and auto loan delinquencies continue to mount, unusual in an economy as healthy as ours.
https://www.weeklystandard.com/irwin...my-overheating
Face the stunning fact: the 45th President is an incompetent fool, leading a country mired in Trillions and Trillions of dollars of debt, encouraging even more debt, racking up the debt in the same way that he ran his casinos into the ground by borrowing today on the premise you pay it back tomorow beause if you own a casino you can't lose, because the house always wins. Ponder that extraordinary fact: the owner of a casino who loses. The USA has a casino economy, great when you are winning, but what happens in three or four years time when the Tariffs bite, and the lenders want their money back?
Any man in power is obligated. In retrospect, it seems obvious that Obama was obligated to the good old military-industrial complex, since he ended up not only reneging on his campaign promise to pull us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but actually increasing our presence in both of those shitholes... So Donald Trump's interests, and the interests of the average American citizen, happen to run parallel right now.
--This is a distortion of the facts.
At their height there were over 170,000 US service personnel in Iraq, and it was the deal GW Bush struk with the Government of Iraq in 2008 which agreed the withdrawal of US forces by 2011 that Obama was obliged to honour -and he did, even though his critics then claimed it was his fault that the withdrawals agreed and acted on by GW Bush allegedly created the vacuum filled by ISIS! For the record when Obama left office, there were approx 8,992 troops in Iraq so that he presided over a net decrease, not increase in Iraq. In Afghanistan at its height there were over 100,000 service personnel in the country. By the time Obama left office there were just over 8,000 -he wanted it reduced to 5,500 -again, a net decrease, not an increase.
It is the 45th President who is increasing troops in Afghanistan, with the rider that the US public not be told how many because this transparency also tells 'the enemy'! The number of troops in Afghanistan has risen to 14,000 at least, with the additional fact that it is under the 45th President that US forces are now in operation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, the Yemen, Niger and probably Mali too. Obama has been critizied for his 'strategic caution' -has the reckless 45th President achieved any of the USA's military objectives in the countries listed above?
https://abcnews.go.com/International...ry?id=51411555
https://www.npr.org/2015/12/19/45985...=1540705847640
Underneath that canopy of feel good emotion, the USA is sitting on a swamp of debt. The President is leading the USA to the cliff edge, more concerned with attacking the media than focusing on the real issues. A man who has spent the last two years heaping insult and abuse on Americans, who relentlessly attacks the media for not worshipping him, has openly called on his supporters to be violent, to purchase more guns and to use them -yet denies any responsibility for those acts of violence he has openly called for.
He has blood on his hands. The blood of dead Americans. Lock him up!
The 45th President of the USA is without doubt unfit for public office: a liar,a racist, a crook and a traitor. He is a threat to international stablity, and a menace to freedom itself. The sooner he is thrown out of office, the better. Do it now.
Look whose speaking up
http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/sho...stoked-finally
Stavros, are you familiar with the concept of "Optimized Self-Interest?" Optimized Self-Interest means that every participant in a statistical model is putting forth maximum effort to advance his own position. The fact that Optimized Self-Interest exists in only a small percentage of people is the reason statistics and projections are mostly pointless. It's why the USA has so many technical jobs with no one to fill them. It's why gas prices can never be predicted with any real accuracy. It's why the better team doesn't always win in sports. It's why Hillary lost the election when she was expected to win in a landslide. It's why I prefer girls with dicks even though I have no clue why. The truth is, you can never tell what people are going to do.
I'm not sure what you mean by "casino economy." I mean yes, we have a lot of debt. We also have a lot of assets.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
The banks to whom the USA owes money always get paid. That's how we are able to maintain trillions of dollars in debt - because everyone knows they will get paid. This national debt that people get so twisty about is no different than an average person using an American Express card. It's not a problem as long as you pay it off. I myself have a ridiculously high credit limit, but the reason my credit limit is so high is because I can be trusted to pay it off. I could go out right now and get myself in a lot of trouble with credit cards. But I don't; that's why I'm entrusted to have that option.
People throw numbers around as if they can actually wrap their head around the numbers. "TRILLIONS" of dollars in debt!! Okay, well, that sounds like a lot until you consider that there are hundreds of millions of people here - the richest people in the world - working in hundreds of multi-billion-dollar industries, generating TRILLIONS of dollars ANNUALLY. Yes, we have a national American Express card. And we're using it. So what?
You probably are wondering why I brought up Optimized Self-Interest. It's because that has taken on a new meaning in the political sphere. Democrats are voting for Trump, because they have enough information, here in the Information Age, to understand that whatever their "special" interest might be, it all relies on the underlying economy. Liberal mouthpieces can go on and on about how they created a strong economy and now the conservatives are taking credit, but it's no more true now than it has been every other time they've said it - during every Republican administration in history. The American economy is fast and loose, week-to-week, day-to-day. During a Democratic regime it clenches up like a virgin asshole, during a Republican regime, it shits gold. Nothing Obama did is relevant to the current state of the economy. Obama is now a public speaker. And a damn good one at that.
We are currently riding on pure economic optimism. Which is just fine considering that in a fiat economy, all the money is imaginary anyway. Economic optimism has a real dollar value now.
I've been to four different cities since Trump took command. St. George, Las Vegas, Nashville, and NYC. Every single one of them is prospering like never before, new construction is everywhere, prices are stable, unemployment is practically non-existent.
Whatever shenanigans Trump is up to, it's working. Period. Results count. Results are all that count. Deep inside, even the most tattooed, nipple-pierced, tree-hugging victim-lover knows this. And that's why you better be ready for 4 more years of Trumpism before your outrage over special interests is addressed.