21

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: March 05, 2024, 04:26:50 PM »

Trump can't be stumped. The Supreme Court knew better than to antagonize our greatest President.

22

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: March 04, 2024, 02:31:10 PM »

Correct, corruption in the DNC is irrelevant to the seriousness of a hostile foreign power interfering in our elections for their own gain. Election interference does not become okay or justified if genuine corruption ends up being exposed any more than murder becomes okay or justified if it turns out that the victim was a bad person.

No one here said election interference is okay, it's just that the DNC did nothing about the corruption at all. They just let it slide, just as you are, because the bad people exposed it. Corruption is only bad if good people expose it!

I never said I didn't care. I said it was irrelevant to the seriousness of Russia interfering in our elections, which it is.

That's called... not caring.

It's always conservatives who cry both sides! in online discussions, and it's always simultaneously (and seemingly paradoxically) in support of a conservative politician or agenda. If there were no difference between Biden and Trump and it didn't matter whom we voted for, then Putin wouldn't have gone to all that effort to get Trump elected in the first place. He knew that Trump had no real understanding of or interest in international politics and certainly no deeply-held political positions, and he knew that Trump's policy decisions would come down to Trump's personal whims rather than any non-existent political or ethical philosophy. Trump is no less shallow and ignorant now than he was in 2016. If Trump returns to office, he will once again base his decisions almost entirely on his own personal whims, and Putin will take advantage of this to try to flatter and manipulate Trump into turning on Ukraine. If Trump's constant fawning over Putin in his first term in office is any indication, he'll almost certainly succeed.

Incidentally, it's a strange time to make false both-sides equivalences when it was just last year that we had the momentous - and extremely unpopular, let's not forget - Supreme Court decision striking down Roe. That would never have happened if it had been a Democrat in office, given how all three of Trump's nominees formed half of the majority opinion in that case. That's not both-sides business as usual, that's specifically the conservative agenda supported by Republican politicians at work. The voters can and should punish Republicans (especially Trump) for this in November, although sadly I don't expect them to.

Here's the thing though, the "Putin wants Trump" propaganda is... a lie. It didn't happen. It doesn't exist. Hillary made it up as a smear and it persists despite a complete lack of evidence.

Also, it's not a coincidence that Roe v Wade meets its end under a Catholic president, but I'm sure you think it's still Trump's fault! It's like if someone doesn't explicitly explain every fine detail of politics to you, you miss the plot entirely! The concept of Biden being a conservative, which he is, probably doesn't compute because he keeps doing conservative actions while saying liberal words.

You say I am "both sides"'ing you, but surely you've noticed Biden is farther right than Obama, who was already a centrist! You've been tricked into voting between two conservatives and you don't even mind!

23

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Biden is using American taxpayer money to pay off my loans

« on: March 04, 2024, 02:21:07 PM »

1. This is not a "send us the bill" this is a "we give you $1 billion dollars and you stop charging tuition." Thus they can't overcharge for anything.

That's very nice, Dave. If only we had a Dave lawmaker to look down upon people and say "no, you can't take advantage of this" and they just frown at you in response and say "okay."

2. $192 billion is like 20% of the budget.  And realistically, just divide it up by a few years.  No one's going to realistically notice.

...what. To put this into perspective, taking away 192 billion of the defense budget is the same as deleting the entire US Army branch (their 2024 budget is $185.3 billion). I think other countries would notice.

24

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Biden is using American taxpayer money to pay off my loans

« on: March 03, 2024, 03:12:21 PM »

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/28/us-medical-schools-that-dont-charge-tuition.html

TLDR: Rich old woman gives $1 Billion dollars to a medical school.  The medical school is now tuition free for the foreseeable future.

So apparently it takes $1 Billion dollars to make a medical school free for all for a very long time. (I won't say forever because forever is a long time).  Makes you wonder how long it would take to make every medical school in the country tuition free if the US used most of its defense budget on that.

Oh... 1 year.

https://medicalaid.org/how-many-medical-schools-in-us-the-definitive-guide-2023/#:~:text=How%20Many%20Medical%20Schools%20in%20the%20US%3F,existing%20schools%20expand%20their%20programs.

192 medical schools in America.
The defense budget is $842 billion in 2024.
So cutting down by $192 billion and giving to every medical student's tuition would basically end tuition for med students for the forseeable future.

Go figure!  Wonder why they don't do that?

Two major problems:

1. Paying tuition for students doesn't solve the fundamental problem of over-indulgent universities charging too much.
2. The defense budget is driving Pax Americana

The results of your budget plan:

1. Universities become even more greedy since Uncle Sam is paying the bills (they already do this with the GI Bill, suspiciously, most universities have semester hour rates that match the GI Bill maximum payout exactly).
2. Significantly more conflicts break out across the planet and global trade is degraded.

25

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 23, 2024, 05:27:52 PM »

As a National poll update:

Trump vs Biden: Trump +1.9
Trump vs Biden vs Kennedy: Trump +4.5
Trump vs Biden vs Kennedy vs West vs Stein: Trump +4.7

Source is realclearpolling.com, RealClear does not weight its polls by how "trustworthy" the pollster is so keep that in mind.

26

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 23, 2024, 04:16:55 PM »

Mine is about how slaves were the only thing worth fighting for.
(I'm serious.   There's a passage where a city is being seiged and the enemy took all the riches.  The king did nothing.  Then they took all yhe women and children.  The king did nothing.  Then they were gonna take the servants.  The king sent 12 of his sons out and they slaughtered the whole army.)

You can easily find more riches; likewise, you can easily find more women to have more children. You know what's really hard to find? A good slave.

27

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 23, 2024, 01:50:30 PM »

My favorite verse in the bible is the one about owning big casinos and having a golden toilet.

28

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 22, 2024, 08:09:31 PM »

I can't believe I missed out on the chance to own a pair of golden Trump sneakers! I hope he releases more, I'd gladly pay $1000 for a pair.

29

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 15, 2024, 05:38:26 PM »

In fairness, Russia can't even take over a relatively small and weak nation with the largely outdated equipment they have.  I don't think an invasion would be noticed before it was wiped out.

You mean Russia can't do it while America is busy giving 200 billion dollars in financial and materiel aid to Ukraine.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like Russia. I want them to lose. My problem is that European nations, particularly those in the EU, are hooked on US military assistance. The wealthy nations of the EU could easily afford a much bigger, more robust military industry. Yet, they don't have one. Why? No one seems to give a decent answer.

It's amusing to me that Trump telling European nations to raise their defense budget and making fun of them for not doing it is somehow deemed not only anti-NATO but also pro-Russia. Because obviously Putin's 4D chess involves Germany, France and the UK having larger military budgets, somehow...

30

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 15, 2024, 04:18:57 PM »

That's completely irrelevant and you know it. Putin did not target the DNC and release their emails out of a sense of altruism or opposition to corruption. He did it to pursue his own political agenda, one that happens to be deeply hostile to America and its interests. That's election interference. The fact that you personally don't care about it and don't think it should be a crime (something that you have in common with Trump) doesn't change the fact that it is a crime and it is something that this nation takes very seriously.

Ah, yes, corruption in the DNC is irrelevant. What is relevant is how the corruption was revealed!

It's like when you catch someone cheating on you and they get mad you were looking at their phone. The DNC was, and still is, corrupt, but you do not care about that. They rugpulled Bernie Sanders, a politician you supposedly liked, but still, you do not care. It's fascinating, really. When given blatant evidence that the people you voted for rigged the game so that you have to vote for them, you don't mind all that much.

You see, we've successfully bamboozled the American public into voting between two old-ass neocons. Trump? Biden? You won't notice the difference. It doesn't matter who you vote for, you're getting an old neocon either way! Face it, the elites have checkmated America in a way so fabulous that it can't help but be lauded. Even given evidence of them doing it, you still won't care. It's a masterpiece of political engineering.

31

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 15, 2024, 03:13:56 PM »

NATO was created to balance the geopolitical power against a nation that dissolved over 30 years ago. Now it exists for the US to subsidize the EU's defense budget. It's pathetic that the EU still needs it, and it does still need it, but that doesn't mean we should keep bothering with it.

The last time Trump told Germany to increase their defense budget, they literally laughed at him. In my opinion, maybe the EU really does need a Russian invasion as a wake-up call that they don't live in a magical fantasy utopia where big brother US will protect them forever. The current state of the EU's defense forces is a joke, collectively their economy is many times larger than Russia's, yet their conventional military is barely a quarter of Russia's.

Hell, we had to blow up the Nordstream pipeline just to stop Germany from giving Putin more money! How long must the US protect Europeans from themselves. Forever? Were two world wars not enough to teach them their lesson?

32

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 08, 2024, 01:51:01 PM »

No, you didn't read the report. You're mindlessly quoting Trump apologists.

I didn't quote anyone.

The report could not connect Trump directly in a criminal context but outlines overwhelming circumstantial evidence that he was involved.

You certainly have a very fascinating personal definition of "overwhelming circumstantial evidence". I suppose at this point you're about to bring up the Steele dossier and tell me about your personal Trump fanfiction where he goes to jail for being a big meaniehead.

The Russians broke into the DNC servers, stole emails and contacted the Republicans. The ideal that Trump didn't know anything about it and would have stopped it if he found out is ridiculous.

Oh no, they publicly displayed the DNC's very weird emails where you learned that the DNC was corrupt! Good thing you made sure to just get mad at Russia about it instead of trying to fix any corruption.

The Democrat House judiciary committee chairman Jerold Nadler opened questioning on Wednesday by asking Mr Mueller whether Donald Trump had been accurate to claim he was "exonerated" by the special counsel report, to which Mr Muller replied with an emphatic "No".

Download the report, seriously. At 400 pages, it sounds like a lot but there is a lot of white space and is not hard to read or understand.

Sorry, I don't intend on reading the report, and I know you don't and didn't either!

But that was then, this is now. We know Trump planned to let Russia have Ukraine for which they would render all kinds of political support. There is a lot more evidence now. Giuliani's good buddies, Lev and Igor are getting out of prison and are writing books that you won't read filled with all kinds of stuff you don't want to believe.

And this from Trump's attempt to be America's first king....
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-denied-presidential-immunity-in-election-interference-case-court-rules

More fanfiction from the land of your imagination.

The bummer is that Biden doesn't have immunity to send Seal Team Six to assassinate traitorous insurrectionist who collaborate with enemies to subvert our democracy.

The cool part is that Trump's idiotic argument got shot down and he only has a couple of weeks to find a lawyer and mount an appeal to the supreme court.

The final form of the propaganda lemming: I should be able to KILL politicians I don't personally like!

Very sane and normal, lmao.

33

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 06, 2024, 02:58:58 PM »

I just went through all this with Pete a few posts ago and you missed it just like the first time you missed it 2016.




Yep, the Russians were behind "KIDS4TRUMP," "Tea Party News," and all kinds of other Trump crap that you gobble up.
Putin's calling upon you to "Be Patriotic" "Stop All Invaders" and "Secure the borders!" (all Russian Facebook groups) Putin wants what's best for our country.


It's probably best that you didn't read any of it and have no clue. If you knew the truth about Republicans, you wouldn't believe it anyway.
Just one Russian Facebook group made over 80,000 postings that got lots of likes from idiotic rednecks that will eat something they find on the sidewalk without thinking.

BTW- That was 2016. Today, Russia is promoting the stolen election lie and predicting civil war for America. You have Putin, Trump and Jesus all still working hard for the causes you believe in and support.

I think you're making a long line of assumptions, assumptions that those interested would like you to make. No one here was arguing there was a complete lack of election interference (there was, as evidence you provided shows!). That was the entire point of the Mueller report! Except, it didn't prove anything about Trump, you know, the person the title of the thread mentions?

The problem is your logical leap that Trump was personally involved, despite the lack of evidence. It's at best wishful thinking on your part, at worst, a purposeful attempt to muddy the waters.

While Russia was proven to be helping Republicans, it didn't work out for them. Because, and I know this is hard for you to accept, but the Russian government is dumb as bricks. They got Trump elected and then he immediately began telling NATO that they should expand their defense spending. The same organization currently fighting Russia in Ukraine? I guess big brain Putin wanted NATO to waste his resources the whole time! Wow!

Again, you didn't read the report, again, you are making massive assumptions about the state of reality based on some news articles you read. Your entire concept of modern geopolitics seems to begin and end at "Trump bad because Putin did thing "

34

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 05, 2024, 02:06:00 PM »

I have read it. It's a pdf in a folder on my desktop. 400 pages. I study that shit. I have screen shots from Russian websites, I download and translate documents. All your conservative heroes are there.

Uh huh...

The Mueller Report is still available for download...

https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download

You should download a copy and STFU.

Wow, instead of giving me all the hot specifics of your claims, you tell me "just read it yourself" right after claiming you've read it when you obviously have not. This is just embarrassing, why are you doing this? Like, why bother posting about it at all?

I guess it's tough to keep your worldview in line with your beliefs when your beliefs are based on a few op-ed's you read three years ago.

35

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 03, 2024, 02:36:32 AM »

Putin supports a candidate because it is best for Russia. They did it in Crimea, Venuzuela, they're doing it in the Czech Republic now. The Mueller Report wasn't just accurate, it was just the tip of the iceberg. While the words "Russia Hoax" were coming out of Trump's stupid face, the Russians had the Solarwinds attack already underway and were exfiltrating huge amounts of our most secret data from the highest level of government computers at that very moment.

At the time of the Mueller report, the connection between Russia and Republicans was just political, Russia supported Republicans in the election and Republicans would support Russian expansion in Europe. But now the connection is ideological. The Republicans want to BE Russia, they want to have a leader with absolute immunity, they want to ban books, federalize elections, incarcerate homosexuals, jail their political opponents, have government run media and churches.

People that think the "Trump is a Putin puppet" narrative has never applied to the real world and still parrot Putin's propaganda are concerning.

I like how you say "The Mueller Report" like you've read it. But, if you had read it, surely you would give more specific information. And yet, you don't. Why is that? Ah, it's because it contains none. So, even if you had read it, which I find doubtful, it would still not help you. Sad!

Go on. Give me details. Give me convictions. Tell me the wide ranging stories of horrific collusion. I want to hear it all. Enlighten me.

36

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Americans think democracy is in peril

« on: February 02, 2024, 03:07:07 PM »

https://abcnews.go.com/538/americans-democracy-peril-2024-election/story?id=106803471

Considering that America doesn't have a democracy, one has to wonder how in the world it could be imperiled. But, pedantic arguments aside, why are majorities of both political parties absolutely convinced the American government is soon-to-collapse?

Surely, it is not healthy to be so absolutely convinced the current sitting president, Joe Biden, didn't actually win the 2020 election. But, in contrast with that, it also surely isn't healthy to be convinced Trump winning the election would somehow result in him making elections illegal. Are both sides really itching to force "my politics" into the office so much that the allowing the other side to win is unacceptable? How has such a large portion of the American population become so divorced of reality in a world where reality is more accessible than ever?

37

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 02, 2024, 02:20:41 PM »

He successfully manipulated Trump many times while he was in office, and if Trump is reelected, he'll undoubtedly do so again.

If you mean by "successfully manipulated" he avoided doing anything while Trump was president. Putin repeatedly said he didn't want to perform any major actions while Trump was president because he felt Trump "didn't understand the details of geopolitics". In other words, Putin watched Trump kill an Iranian general in response to a single American death and knew Trump would overreact to Ukraine. Putin waited until a weaker leader like Biden got into office, then invaded Ukraine, knowing Biden wouldn't do anything.

The "Trump is a Putin puppet" narrative has never applied to the real world; that anyone still parrots it is concerning. Yes, Trump said Putin was very, very smart. He also said Kim Jong was very, very smart. He also said Ted Cruz was very, very smart. Trump says it about literally everyone he wants something from.

inb4 "Biden giving old outdated weapons to Ukraine is definitely doing something!" and "Putin planned the invasion while Trump was president!" even though the buildup didn't start until after Biden won.

38

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: NATO Shenanigans

« on: January 25, 2024, 09:18:17 PM »

I can't believe they let Sweden join, despite all of those Swedish terrorists wreaking havoc across Europe!

39

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: January 22, 2024, 10:16:33 PM »

Vegas odds are currently in Trump's favor. If you believe Joe "c'mon man" Biden is going to win, it's an easy bet and it makes big bucks.

                Odds         Implied % Chance
Donald Trump   +120                 45.5%
Joe Biden      +200                 33.3%

40

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 20, 2023, 02:01:26 PM »

Looks like Trump might not be on the Colorado ballot.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/politics/trump-colorado-supreme-court-14th-amendment/index.html

Look, fellas, our democracy is in danger. If we don't start banning people like Trump from running, people might elect the wrong candidate instead of the right one.