2020 Politics Thread - Enter At Your Own Risk - RULES IN OP

[NeedChapmans]

Originally Posted by NeedChapmans

Can you believe

(1) Twitter removed the tweet as being against their policies
(2) An entire athletic department at a school finds it offensive
(3) They refuse to participate in athletics until the student is expelled.

Amazing. Almost positive it's something any comedian would have said in stand-up for anyone else a few years ago (and it's funny!). Rooting hard for Jaden, hope whatever happens, he comes out on top.

"K-State Women’s basketball player Christianna Carr posted a statement on Twitter Friday, saying that black K-State student-athletes will not play this season unless a new policy is created that expels any student who openly displays racism."

And of course, making that joke does not openly display racism. So it's a no-win situation for the school; they're in trouble.

[NeedChapmans]

Originally Posted by deansayso

Right? I was reading an article on Sweden and how their deaths and hospitalizations are falling but their positive cases are going up so that's so that the world news would report on.

We went from

Protect the hospitals! TO
Protect life TO
Don't let it spread!

Hospitals 1st, then deaths 2nd, now cases 3rd. Wonder what happens when cases come down, media probably hits racial injustice 2.0.

[Clark]

Originally Posted by blackbears86

[/B]



A start would be to publicly condemn this and Russia IF TRUE. This would be huge for trump since all he does is kiss up to putin like a school girl at a beiber concert.


I freaked out? I'm all for killing terrorists. Let's get them all!!!!

You realize that Russia actually has "weapons of mass destruction"?

[marl1220]

Originally Posted by stanmarsh

Florida is closing down again.

It wouldn't surprise me. After all, the suggested precautions people are supposed to follow are down right impossible.

[coltsnsox07]

Yahoo article..
'Houston Realtors Will No Longer Use The Term 'Master' When Describing Bedrooms'...

[marl1220]

Originally Posted by coltsnsox07

Yahoo article..
'Houston Realtors Will No Longer Use The Term 'Master' When Describing Bedrooms'...

"Parent's" bedroom. Or maybe "Main" bedroom. How about "Biggest" bedroom?

[Packer4Rob]

Originally Posted by coltsnsox07

Yahoo article..
'Houston Realtors Will No Longer Use The Term 'Master' When Describing Bedrooms'...

guess we'll start referring to it as happybating from now on, so as not to offend the masters of their domain

[marl1220]

This is hysterical. Reminds me of when Democrats were posting names and addresses of people who voted for Trump.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-...-facebook-live

[packman80]

Originally Posted by Packer4Rob

guess we'll start referring to it as happybating from now on, so as not to offend the masters of their domain

Be like the the time Bill Bates safety for Cowboys was called Master Bates by his teammates. the postion coach though the players respected him by calling him Master LOL.

[TheFrenzy]

Let's take a moment to compare the BLM movement with some of the fundamantalist/Puritanical movements within American Christianity:

1. Both can point to lengthy histories of suffering from oppression, discrimination, and even outright violence. Martyrdom/persecution for Christians and slavery/lynchings for blacks.

2. Both, when they point out these historic injustices, are told that these things belong to the distant past and today things are much better. Meanwhile Christians are still killed and beheaded in vast regions of the world and blacks are treated pretty brutally by criminal justice system. Neither of these present realities typically garner many headlines.

3. That said, both movements are characterized by an intense sense of fear and a reactionary sense of anger that is utterly disproportionate to any kind of statistics showing the actual discriminatory attacks they face. In fact, to outsiders, both groups appear to be favored in many ways. (Though very few within either movement see themselves as anything but persecuted.)

4. Both movements are prone to believing and promoting historical narratives that “they built this country” and are its true heirs.

5. Both movements are prone to censorship, especially in regards to what kind of media and art is deemed acceptable. While intentionally provocative displays like the infamous exhibit featuring a crucifix submerged in urine might seem like fair game for discussing the limits of free speech, we’ve seen Christians call for boycotts of perfectly mundane things like the Harry Potter franchise or anything that features gay characters. Similarly, while openly racist productions seem to be fair game for public condemnation, we’re now seeing similar fundamentalist demands being made—whether thats call for censoring breakfast brands or demanding that white voice actors be removed from voicing non-white animated characters.

6. Not only art, but even language itself has been highly censored by these groups. For extreme Christian groups, their censorship campaigns have helped shape everything from FCC guidelines to the MPAA rating system. For the BLM, we’re seeing the same impulse at work as every public (and even a lot of private) statement is being scrutinized for any trace of micro aggressions or non-PC language. We’re even seeing university athletes demanding that the First Amendment be suspended so that a student they disagree with can be expelled.

7. Both movements can be highly reactionary. People like to think of the Salem Witch Trials, but the “Satanic Panic” (daycare workers supposedly abusing children in preparation for Satanic rituals) was as recent as the 80s and 90s. Today we’re hearing a similar narrative in which, instead of daycare workers, it’s the police force that is filled with evil people secretly determined to abuse and sacrifice non-whites to white supremacy.

8. Both movements favor an absolutist “if you are not for us then you are against” mentality. There can be no neutrality. Fundamentalists believe the world is completely divided between God and the devil, the saved and the unsaved, light and darkness. There is no neutrality in this kind of spiritual warfare. Likewise, the BLM sees the world completely divided between racists and anti-racists. There is no neutrality in this kind of social warfare. You are either converted or you are damned.

9. For both movements, guilt by association is perfectly sufficient evidence for justifying outright attacks. Because both groups highly prize their purity tests and are also prone to conspiratorial thinking, even the slightest or most unfounded accusation is enough to disqualify one from good standing. Thus every member must continually work towards an unobtainable salvation.

10. Within both movements, the rank-and-file members see themselves as reasonable, rational people who are simply "doing what is right." Their moral conviction that their cause is just often prevents them from seeing how far the movement has strayed from its original message.

11. Both movements are prone to making demands for outsized political representation.

And I could go on and on and on……

[TheFrenzy]

As a follow up to my list above, my breakdown of the upcoming election is that:

- Trump is objectively worse than Biden as an individual and as a president. However, Biden represents a much larger, more fanatical, and more destructive coalition of New Social Fundamentalists (Let's call them NSFs) than Trump. Even if we took the absolute worst groups that could be associated with Trump, we're still left with a few dozen Nazis with tiki-torchs compared to hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of NSFs.

- Trump is an objectively bad president and often a bad person, but movement he represents are largely just people who want to get on with living their lives. Biden seems like a pretty decent person and might even make an objectively good president, but the movement he represents is largely destructive in its myopic aims.

- Neither side is particularly thrilled with their candidate, so the Left is basically voting against Trump the Person while the Right is voting against Biden the Movement.

[gopherfan]

Originally Posted by sethc1020

You can't possibly talk about corruption without speaking about the most corrupt in Trump. He is the corrupted Elite, he is just now become a corrupted DC Elite as well. Look at the Mitch McConnells and Lindsey Grahams that surround him, they are as corrupt as they come. None of the guys you speak of have ever been through an impeachment. Or even considered for an impeachable offense. Not so much for your boy. Tell me one thing he has actually accomplished in 4 years with a Republican controlled Congress that worships his every word? No wall was built and Mexico still isn't paying for it, the small section that did get built wasted Billions & Billions & Billions & Billions & Billions of tax payer money on a project that will never be completed, he has gotten absolutely nowhere on healthcare, he disbanded the pandemic task force that the Obama administration set up, he called the Corona Virus a Hoax for the first few months which was a vital time to slowing this thing down and caused us to be so deep in this mess right now, he didn't bring back jobs for the coal miners and has been awful for the farmers. People talk about the economy but the economy was already doing very well when he took office. I will give him the benefit of going to bat with China on trade and trying to bring back jobs to the US which we desperately need but I feel that he as gone at it in a way that Chinese will not respond positivity to which is why we are in a trade war. I mean what has he truly truly accomplished????

I know I'm a few days behind, but you aren't by chance my mother-in-law? This is almost word for word what she posts on Facebook daily. When she isn't virtue signaling of course.

[tpeichel34]

Originally Posted by marl1220

"Parent's" bedroom. Or maybe "Main" bedroom. How about "Biggest" bedroom?

Check your big bedroom privilege, bigot.

[SleeperCards]

Do I need to point out the huge fundamental difference between these two things? C'mon Frenzy, jesus christ. You and I had a choice (although it may not have felt like it at the time) to become "Christians", one of these two groups are born without a choice. I understand your comparisons, but it's completely different to me when you CHOOSE to believe something stupid as opposed to being born into a system that oppresses you.

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

Let's take a moment to compare the BLM movement with some of the fundamantalist/Puritanical movements within American Christianity:

1. Both can point to lengthy histories of suffering from oppression, discrimination, and even outright violence. Martyrdom/persecution for Christians and slavery/lynchings for blacks.

2. Both, when they point out these historic injustices, are told that these things belong to the distant past and today things are much better. Meanwhile Christians are still killed and beheaded in vast regions of the world and blacks are treated pretty brutally by criminal justice system. Neither of these present realities typically garner many headlines.

3. That said, both movements are characterized by an intense sense of fear and a reactionary sense of anger that is utterly disproportionate to any kind of statistics showing the actual discriminatory attacks they face. In fact, to outsiders, both groups appear to be favored in many ways. (Though very few within either movement see themselves as anything but persecuted.)

4. Both movements are prone to believing and promoting historical narratives that “they built this country” and are its true heirs.

5. Both movements are prone to censorship, especially in regards to what kind of media and art is deemed acceptable. While intentionally provocative displays like the infamous exhibit featuring a crucifix submerged in urine might seem like fair game for discussing the limits of free speech, we’ve seen Christians call for boycotts of perfectly mundane things like the Harry Potter franchise or anything that features gay characters. Similarly, while openly racist productions seem to be fair game for public condemnation, we’re now seeing similar fundamentalist demands being made—whether thats call for censoring breakfast brands or demanding that white voice actors be removed from voicing non-white animated characters.

6. Not only art, but even language itself has been highly censored by these groups. For extreme Christian groups, their censorship campaigns have helped shape everything from FCC guidelines to the MPAA rating system. For the BLM, we’re seeing the same impulse at work as every public (and even a lot of private) statement is being scrutinized for any trace of micro aggressions or non-PC language. We’re even seeing university athletes demanding that the First Amendment be suspended so that a student they disagree with can be expelled.

7. Both movements can be highly reactionary. People like to think of the Salem Witch Trials, but the “Satanic Panic” (daycare workers supposedly abusing children in preparation for Satanic rituals) was as recent as the 80s and 90s. Today we’re hearing a similar narrative in which, instead of daycare workers, it’s the police force that is filled with evil people secretly determined to abuse and sacrifice non-whites to white supremacy.

8. Both movements favor an absolutist “if you are not for us then you are against” mentality. There can be no neutrality. Fundamentalists believe the world is completely divided between God and the devil, the saved and the unsaved, light and darkness. There is no neutrality in this kind of spiritual warfare. Likewise, the BLM sees the world completely divided between racists and anti-racists. There is no neutrality in this kind of social warfare. You are either converted or you are damned.

9. For both movements, guilt by association is perfectly sufficient evidence for justifying outright attacks. Because both groups highly prize their purity tests and are also prone to conspiratorial thinking, even the slightest or most unfounded accusation is enough to disqualify one from good standing. Thus every member must continually work towards an unobtainable salvation.

10. Within both movements, the rank-and-file members see themselves as reasonable, rational people who are simply "doing what is right." Their moral conviction that their cause is just often prevents them from seeing how far the movement has strayed from its original message.

11. Both movements are prone to making demands for outsized political representation.

And I could go on and on and on……

[tpeichel34]

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

As a follow up to my list above, my breakdown of the upcoming election is that:

- Trump is objectively worse than Biden as an individual and as a president. However, Biden represents a much larger, more fanatical, and more destructive coalition of New Social Fundamentalists (Let's call them NSFs) than Trump. Even if we took the absolute worst groups that could be associated with Trump, we're still left with a few dozen Nazis with tiki-torchs compared to hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of NSFs.

- Trump is an objectively bad president and often a bad person, but movement he represents are largely just people who want to get on with living their lives. Biden seems like a pretty decent person and might even make an objectively good president, but the movement he represents is largely destructive in its myopic aims.

- Neither side is particularly thrilled with their candidate, so the Left is basically voting against Trump the Person while the Right is voting against Biden the Movement.

Curious on your take on what makes Trump an objectively bad President and let's just start with a big one, foreign policy, because I believe it is the single most important part of the function of the executive branch.

As a gauge, did Obama and/or Bush have "objectively bad" foreign policy? How do they compare on the metrics you are using to determine that a President's foreign policy is objectively good or bad?

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by SleeperCards

it's completely different to me when you CHOOSE to believe something stupid as opposed to being born into a system that oppresses you.

Race, Gender, Orientation, and Religion are all considered to be fundamental qualities of an individual and are protected as basic human rights.

You've expressed your personal feelings towards religion before, but be careful with the reasoning that you use to justify your arguments for stripping religion away from this protected class of characteristics.

Your argument that people "choose" to believe in something is identical to the "being gay is a choice" argument.

It just doesn't work.

[GeechQuest]

Originally Posted by tpeichel34

Curious on your take on what makes Trump an objectively bad President and let's just start with a big one, foreign policy, because I believe it is the single most important part of the function of the executive branch.

As a gauge, did Obama and/or Bush have "objectively bad" foreign policy? How do they compare on the metrics you are using to determine that a President's foreign policy is objectively good or bad?

What metrics are you using? It’s so ridiculously subjective it’s hard to really pin down good/bad. What’s good for some is bad for others.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by tpeichel34

Curious on your take on what makes Trump an objectively bad President

I do a lot of fact-checking on the more hysterical claims made against Trump. As someone who didn't and isn't voting for him, I do want to make that clear to the forum. It is entirely possible that future events change the perception of his administration and he's rated favorably (anything is possible), but I can't sign off on the overly combative rhetoric (and believe me, I hold both sides accountable on this—neither side is getting my vote), his chaotic hirings and firings, and his general lack of a coherent vision are major strikes against him.

Not that he's pure evil or I think he's Hitler. His toughness on China is what we need as well as the reminder to our allies that there is an expectation of them to do their fair share in global security.

I'm mixed on the climate policies because, while I don't think he's helping I think that the feel-good back-patting that the EU has been leading needed a sharp wake-up call.

Originally Posted by tpeichel34

foreign policy, because I believe it is the single most important part of the function of the executive branch.

I agree with its primary importance.

Personally, one of the reasons why Trump's nasty personality kills me is that I think we're seeing just how little many of our allies actually care about us. I think that as long as we've had a polite president who was content to continue doing the politically correct thing and saddle us with a disproportionate amount of responsibility, the other leaders were happy. But now that we've got some one who actually starts adding to their plates, we're seeing the knives come out. Unfortunately, Trump's bad behavior is giving them a free pass and they are able to disguise their attacks as attacks on him rather than as temper tantrums at having to shoulder their fair share.

Originally Posted by tpeichel34

As a gauge, did Obama and/or Bush have "objectively bad" foreign policy? How do they compare on the metrics you are using to determine that a President's foreign policy is objectively good or bad?

I don't have a quantifiable metric. I will give Trump a major amount of points for his handling of the Iran tensions. I spent way too much time tracking down the misinformation that flooded the internet back in January and even today millions of Americans have demonstrably false ideas about what actually happened. Trump was able to project military strength while avoiding the escalation that Iran was angling for.

That said, if I go back to my previous point, Trump's personality has hamstrung his ability to accomplish the potentially major foreign policy feat of exposing some of our allies' duplicity.

My prediction is that, once the next president takes office, the reality of the situation will be even worse because that president will feel compelled to "make amends" and bend over backwards to "make up" for Trump.

[TheFrenzy]

To add to the point on Trump's personality v our allies, I think that if we could go back to 2016 and somehow swap out Trump for someone like a Nikki Haley then we'd see more of what I'm talking about.

If someone like a Haley was diplomatically calling out our allies and demanding more from them, I think the average American would be 100x more aware of how selfish much of the world has become.

[packman80]

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

To add to the point on Trump's personality v our allies, I think that if we could go back to 2016 and somehow swap out Trump for someone like a Nikki Haley then we'd see more of what I'm talking about.

If someone like a Haley was diplomatically calling out our allies and demanding more from them, I think the average American would be 100x more aware of how selfish much of the world has become.

I can't blame Trump for actually calling out other countries like the USA should fund the majority of eveything and they pay little to nothing but get to share in the benefits

[SleeperCards]

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

Your argument that people "choose" to believe in something is identical to the "being gay is a choice" argument.

It just doesn't work.

It doesn't work for you because it doesn't fit what you believe? Perhaps I've given you too much credit if you somehow don't believe religion is a choice, but believe that race or orientation is? Hopefully what you're saying is you believe all those things deserve equal protection (which is a bad take IMO), but defensible.

[jdandns]

Originally Posted by Packer4Rob

guess we'll start referring to it as happybating from now on, so as not to offend the masters of their domain

The first part of that word is spelled with a "u", though, so they should probably just leave it alone.

Originally Posted by gopherfan

I know I'm a few days behind, but you aren't by chance my mother-in-law? This is almost word for word what she posts on Facebook daily. When she isn't virtue signaling of course.

Lucky!

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by Clark

You realize that Russia actually has "weapons of mass destruction"?

Really? didn't know that.

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by NeedChapmans

We went from

Protect the hospitals! TO
Protect life TO
Don't let it spread!

Hospitals 1st, then deaths 2nd, now cases 3rd. Wonder what happens when cases come down, media probably hits racial injustice 2.0.

Exactly! Desantis is weak.

[blackbears86]

Nice to see other republicans calling out trump on the possible russian "bounty" on American soldiers.


Some people actually have guts.