All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Dalak]

Haha! I thought we'd get a rose joke first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_sealing

Coulda made a Kissed By A Rose joke, but I figured a Seal worried about being 'opened' would be more fitting. Glad someone liked it

I would vote for the person because I have enough intelligence to figure out that nothing will happen if the Dems can't take back Congress. Not just the one thing that I want, but nothing good anyone either Progressives or Mainstream Democrats want.
In fact life will actually get much, much worse for just about all of us.

+1

As far as I can tell, he’s remained classy here on this thread, opposing political leanings or not.

Assuming the intentions were genuine, (Which I don't) I don't consider misrepresenting all counter arguments, refusing to answer basic questions based on the logic of "They'll use those facts against me", and brushing people off as not worth debating just because they disagree as Classy.

I like discussion. It it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd honestly like to know what drew you to Johnson as a candidate, and what others could do to garner such support in future election cycles.

+1

[BeastieRunner]

“‘Whoever told you that is probably smoking something that is legal in my state, but not in most states,’ Mattis said, referring to his home state of Washington. ‘I guarantee you there’s been no cost estimate.’”

The man gives no fucks.

[Gray Lensman]

I like discussion. It it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd honestly like to know what drew you to Johnson as a candidate, and what others could do to garner such support in future election cycles.

Johnson did have some good points, like wanting to end the War on Drugs for various reasons (costs to the black community, costs to the bottom line, and putting too much power into the hands of a police force that is being more and more insulated from consequences when they get it wrong) and legalizing marijuana, but his foreign policy was little more than "You know I won't invade other countries because I can't find them on a map anyways", to the point that even the Libertarian Party wishes they had a do-over and had Bill Weld at the top of the ticket instead of at the bottom.

[Tami]

. . . don't worry, I can sea myself out.

Awww...he's so cute!!!! Maybe if we're lucky, when the court releases what it is holding in to, that will not be so 'cute' to Trump.

[Vic Vega]

In weird/Trump news, the president seemed to have gotten into argument over Apocalypse Now.... with Vietnam Vets.

You gonna argue with Vietnam Vets over who used what during Vietnam?

After never having served a day in his life on top of that?

Trump's attitude to knowledge in a nutshell.

[GindyPosts]

I like discussion. It it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd honestly like to know what drew you to Johnson as a candidate, and what others could do to garner such support in future election cycles.

For you, I'll discuss. I just get tired of people whose arguments essentially boil down to "You voted wrong, you made everyone suffer with your selfishness", even after I explained the reasoning for my actions.

Honestly, my reasoning was that, at the time, my interest in Hillary, Trump, and Stein was like looking at some "fruit in yogurt" cup at a local coffee shop where mold was actually growing inside, and I went and grabbed a biscuit sandwich from a fast food joint instead, which was Johnson. Trump was obviously the obnoxious man-child, so there was no way I was going to support a sideshow attraction. I had trust issues with Hillary, and the fact that I had voted Bernie in the primaries might have hindered my opinion to Hillary if you wanna look at it, but my logic at the time was that I was looking at the overall health of the two main candidates and the possibility they might keel over within four years. Trump's obviously the antithesis of health, as he only eats steak and McDonalds, sleeps four hours a day (which is too much for him), and golf isn't a physical activity if you drive to the ball after each shot. Hillary had recently dealt with the stroke, and given that my brother himself was a stroke victim, that gave me some mental trepidation. Obviously, this may sound silly to you, but that's how I reacted.

And Stein... in addition to being a total basketcase, what pissed me off the most was she was an anti-vaxxer. As an autistic person, the NOTION that somebody would refuse to vaccinate their own children out of fears they'll get this disorder as if it'll be the end of their lives makes me angry and I choose to do absolutely nothing with an individual who accepts this quackery. It's the 21st century, which was supposed to be an Age of Wisdom, not the Age of Foolishness.

Johnson seemed the most fundamental to my overall beliefs, and YES, I knew he had no chance, but I was voting in a presidential election in a state that I knew was automatically going to go one way by default because that's how Indiana works, so I threw my support to Johnson. I just assumed that more people would actually have voted in states that did matter for Hillary instead of letting voter malaise set in. And, honestly, I'm only angry at the non-voters who just assumed that it was in the bag for Clinton to win that they took it for granted.

Look, I'm sorry if I got angry, but the bottom line is that I rationalized my decision at the time based on merits, and didn't just go to the voting booth all "I'm voting for this person because this political party".

As for what'll interest me in a candidate in the future, my beliefs are that you need to regulate the commercial side of American industries, as the recent tariff war with China and the deregulation of environmental mandates (clean coal, my ass) have shown what happens if you decide to go "Capitalism Cures All", but only because companies will not make decisions based on best interests for everyone as a collective and simply for their own bottom line. For social issues, I believe in firmer gun control, but not a total takeover, as I want to make sure competent Americans who understand how to use and take care of their firearms instead of getting them to show off imaginary dick sizes or, say, ringing in the New Year are able to keep their guns because they have shown responsibility. I believe in encouraging a low-cost insurance plan that puts more effort in preventative care, such as free check-ups and programs for weight control, smoking, substance abuse, and what have you, as well as a total overhaul of the mental health industry, considering that we only followed through the easy part of JFK's mandate from 1962 about shutting down the archaic asylums and bringing care to the 20th century. On social issues, I believe in a more pragmatic approach rather than a Biblical approach, because if you dissect the Bible, there's a lot of inaccuracies and stuff where people were assholes. And those were just the good guys.

The only thing I'm definitively conservative is drug usage. For some reason, the idea of marijuana becoming legal bugs the hell out of me, and I still don't feasibly understand the benefits of smoking pot.

[BeastieRunner]

Well, that was quick.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GL7CB3J...mId=B0752XJYNL

[GindyPosts]

Personally I've bitched at everyone I know who didn't vote, and you can quote me saying that if half the people who think their vote didn't count actually voted the whole political map would be vastly different on more than one occasion in the last thread. I also live in a red state that went for Trump but voted for Clinton in the general, regardless of the fact that I still don't like her personally. Thus I bitch at everyone who voted for Trump and anyone other than Clinton who wasn't Trump as she was the best chance we had to avoid him once she got the nomination.

Rather than talk about why you didn't vote Clinton though I'm interested in why you voted specifically for Johnson - What about him made you think "This guy deserves to be my president"?

As I have stated, Johnson seemed to be the most realistic candidate based upon his stances. I mean, he wasn't perfect, but back at the time, Johnson had policies that I agreed with the most.

If anything, I want the Democratic Party in 2020 to understand you need somebody the majority will accept and now allow splintering to happen once more. Easier said than done, but conversely, I look at the Republican Party, who decided to just pick the most outrageous candidate so they could get the dregs of civilization to crawl out from their holes like Yahoos from Gulliver's Travels to vote for him.

[GindyPosts]

Trump cancels military parade, blames D.C. officials for high cost

No surprise Caramel Caligula blamed others for this messterpiece that should never have been given life. Here's something from this piece that made me arch an eyebrow like Spock:



I bolded that sentence for a reason. The rocket scientists in Trump's White House based his ego stroking farce on estimates that were TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD. Christ on a crutch, these boneheads could literally **** up a wet dream.

This had me laughing because Trump is happy to spend $3 billion on Space Force (of course), but having to give the city he works at money to fund this thing pisses him off.

Talk about misplaced priorities.

[Tami]

Well, that was quick.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GL7CB3J...mId=B0752XJYNL

I'd buy it, if I had the money.

[BeastieRunner]

Manafort jury as been sent home for the weekend.

I can't believe they're not being sequestered.

[numberthirty]

People flipping their wigs over this "Bannon/MSNBC" business is straight up hilarious.

News flash, folks: MSNBC ain't the good guys.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

As I have stated, Johnson seemed to be the most realistic candidate based upon his stances. I mean, he wasn't perfect, but back at the time, Johnson had policies that I agreed with the most.

If anything, I want the Democratic Party in 2020 to understand you need somebody the majority will accept and now allow splintering to happen once more. Easier said than done, but conversely, I look at the Republican Party, who decided to just pick the most outrageous candidate so they could get the dregs of civilization to crawl out from their holes like Yahoos from Gulliver's Travels to vote for him.

I don’t know who the Dems will select for 2020, but I’m looking for candidates who won’t appeal to just the left wingers or just the progressives, but rather, appeal to everyone, someone who can bring the entire party together and heal all the damn fractions. Unity will be crucially important when up against Republicans with their hive mind voting mentality that puts the Borg to shame.

[Mecegirl]

Johnson did have some good points, like wanting to end the War on Drugs for various reasons (costs to the black community, costs to the bottom line, and putting too much power into the hands of a police force that is being more and more insulated from consequences when they get it wrong) and legalizing marijuana, but his foreign policy was little more than "You know I won't invade other countries because I can't find them on a map anyways", to the point that even the Libertarian Party wishes they had a do-over and had Bill Weld at the top of the ticket instead of at the bottom.

I think that party could have been the one to break the percentage barrier last go round with Weld at the top of the ticket. People were that desperate to not vote for the main two.

[Mecegirl]

I would vote for the person because I have enough intelligence to figure out that nothing will happen if the Dems can't take back Congress. Not just the one thing that I want, but nothing good anyone either Progressives or Mainstream Democrats want.
In fact life will actually get much, much worse for just about all of us.

I'm honestly having a hard time imagining that this sort of candidate wouldn't get primaried for being anti abortion or anti gay rights.