All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm still gobsmacked, the Texas House voted OVERWHELMINGLY to actually punish a very popular member of the GoP. One of my local friends thinks this is him being sent out as a sacrificial lamb for something coming out later, and I think at this point it's at-best a half baked conspiracy theory but I'll admit I never saw this coming.

Your friend might be right. Qpublicans circle the wagons to protect one of their own better than any group, so for the GQP in Texas of all places to let Paxton twist in the wind means there’s a second shoe that’s gonna drop somewhere down the road, and it doesn’t figure to be pleasant.

[aja_christopher]

"Inarguable" basically means that it isn't up for debate, and you certainly understand that phrase since you used it in your post. So what are three specific things that aren't up for debate that Ron DeSantis did that are so bad that no moderate Republican should consider voting for him over the octogenarian Democratic President?

The lack of a clear answer seems a bit cowardly, as if there's a refusal to say where you draw the line.

The John Oliver video isn't going to help because there are things that he'll disagree with that won't cross that line.

A moderate Republican can be anyone -- it could be Arnold Schwarzeneggar who would vote for Biden over someone who promotes homophobic, fascist policies or someone like Colin Powell who might have done the same based on his banning of African-American coursework. It could be suburban mother who doesn't believe her daughter deserves a six-week abortion ban when she didn't have one growing up years prior. It can be a Christian evangelical who doesn't like witnessing all of the mass shootings carried out by white supremacists who are quoting his right-wing talking points in their anti-LGBT manifesto.

When you ask questions like this you are making generalized assertions that can be interpreted any way you so choose. You already know this because you claim you don't answer loaded questions so you can't claim you don't know why you shouldn't do it.

There have been plenty of clear answers backed by links and evidence citing exactly how DeSantis, Pence and Trump utilize racism, homophobia and white nationalism to garner votes -- if anything here has been cowardly, it has been your refusal to "give a clear answer" when directly asked about said policies.

You haven't even watched the video and yet you dismiss it -- that's essentially how you deal with any information provided to you that you don't accept as viable.



It's not that you haven't been provided with evidence -- it's that you refuse to address it unless it meets your specifications.

Not that you need to -- you've already made it clear that you don't have a problem with their policies, regardless of their effects on others.

You claimed that I'm not worried when white supremacists are shooting up black churches or Muslim mosques. So when have I said anything that you disagree with about people shooting up black churches or Muslim mosques? It's an ugly claim because it's not the truth.

Yet another misrepresentation and yet another loaded question -- the argument is that you've shown where your loyalties and "concerns" lie which is complete truth.

You've likewise already said you don't see white nationalism/extremism as a serious problem so -- again -- there's no need for you to elucidate further on the subject.

[Spike-X]

This was a serious claim, so I'd like to know what persuaded you that a politician is so extreme that moderates of his party should not even consider voting for him over an octogenarian who is a typical member of the other party. That's a tall order.

[Spike-X]

Any man Trump's age who's...endured four years of arguably one of THE most stressful jobs on the planet as President...

Gotta pick you up on that. He only wanted to have the position (and then only as a Fuck You to Obama after getting dragged at that White House Correspondents dinner). It's not like he had any interest in doing the job, especially after he found out he couldn't just nuke whoever he wanted. He spent most of the time watching Fox 'News', playing golf, and holding his never ending Love Me rallies.

[Malvolio]

I have no obligation to spend time in a particular way. If you get a factual thing wrong, it's certainly valid for me to point it out. There's a nasty rhetorical trick of saying something untrue, and then criticizing others for wasting time rebutting it.

So if you quote an article as mentioning "girls identifying as transgender" but the full comment is the opposite "students brought up as girls identifying as transgender" that's relevant, especially if you've been insulting me in dozens of posts for not agreeing with you that a reporter is obviously wrong. It is factually correct to say that trans men or nonbinary females or cis women for that matter were brought up as girls.

It was misleading for you to bold "girls identifying as transgender" a few days ago and not bold the subject noun a few days ago, but it was worse when you completely left out "students brought up as" in a subsequent post.

"Inarguable" basically means that it isn't up for debate, and you certainly understand that phrase since you used it in your post. So what are three specific things that aren't up for debate that Ron DeSantis did that are so bad that no moderate Republican should consider voting for him over the octogenarian Democratic President?

The lack of a clear answer seems a bit cowardly, as if there's a refusal to say where you draw the line.

The John Oliver video isn't going to help because there are things that he'll disagree with that won't cross that line.

I think you're inferring extreme views on my end, regarding what Democrats think on open borders, and I know I didn't claim that all the lefty posters trying to convince others to stop voting Republican were doing so out of a long-term secret desire to make republican candidates more extreme. You seem to be going after what you think I'm implying rather than what I'm literally saying.

As I voted against Trump, I agree with the reasons I stated for why Republicans would oppose him "including corruption, sloppiness, shameless lies, etc." Any implication otherwise is dishonest, and not consistent with my writing in this thread.

It's probably not healthy to spend so much time responding to personal criticism, but I shouldn't be obligated to allow lies to slide, and then take the rest of what you say seriously.

So you won't watch the John Oliver video because a few of his points will be irrelevant? Would you prefer we transcribe the relevant points for you sir? Do you still have someone cut up your food for you, too?

[Spike-X]

I agree that both sides aren't the same, the right clearly has more power than the left. So I don't support extreme policies or extreme people that go against my beliefs so I don't vote. I have more of a mixture of right and left beliefs. But I do have plenty "wrong" beliefs because of my religion. I don't want to hurt anyone for my religious beliefs, but I wouldn't want people to hurt themselves either. I believe you guys are truly doing what you think is right, even if I disagree a lot. Yet, you're already suggesting I need to have empathy, like I'm sort of sociopath.

I guess with how often terms like nazi and white supremacist is thrown around, I only see it as a matter of time before someone like me is on the chopping block and it's okay to commit violence against me for having the wrong beliefs. I could re-word this entire post and make it applicable when talking to some right-wing people. Terms like pedophile and nazi are technically dehumanizing terms determined to make out targets as anything but human, so really as long as that keeps happening, the only way I can see things ending up is with violence being more and more acceptable, which technically affects anyone.

If you walk down the street in many parts of the United States as an LGBTQ person right now, you literally have a target on your back. Your physical safety, and possibly your actual life, is in real and present danger. There is no part of the most God-crazy country in the western world where the same thing holds true for a Christian person. Or do you honestly and sincerely believe otherwise?

[Spike-X]

So you won't watch the John Oliver video because a few of his points will be irrelevant? Would you prefer we transcribe the relevant points for you sir? Do you still have someone cut up your food for you, too?

"Where's the evidence that he's as bad as you say?"

*actual evidence is posted*

"Yeah, not that."

[Spike-X]

I refuse to believe that Ted Cruz knows what sex is.

His wife definitely doesn't know what good sex is HEY-OOO!

[Vakanai]

I know that people here object to DeSantis, but looking that stuff up is going to include a lot of exaggeration, speculation and commentary. I'm looking for facts, not venting.

If someone makes a serious claim about why no one should vote for a politician, they should be able to back it up with three inarguable examples of where the politician crosses the line. I wonder if people don't want to reveal that much about themselves. It's easier to talk about things that are vague than the specifics.

No, not at all. Our posts might have commentary and venting, but the links and articles provided are facts not venting. You could ignore what we say about the articles without ignoring the articles. My venting over them does not invalidate the facts - he has passed these laws targeting the LGBTQ community, he has passed legislation to stifle the press from being able to investigate him and report on him, he has brought in cops with disturbing histories and criminal records of their own, he has said he intends to pardon some of the Jan 6 traitors, he has changed the law to remain in power while going out to campaign as president. These are all inarguable examples of where he as a politician has crossed the line into extremism. We're not talking about things that are vague, these are all the specifics.

[Spike-X]

Empathy is not actually a static quality. So, encouraging someone to try to practice more empathy isn't an insult; it's not calling you a sociopath. Think of empathy like a muscle. (Not talking out my ass here: This is honestly direct from graduate-level therapist school.) We are all born with muscles, how they develop is a matter of how we use them. Empathy is an emotional "muscle" that is necessary human for communication and connection; this is why a complete lack of empathy is literally pathological. Very few people are sociopaths. But yeah, those few truly do struggle to relate to others in any healthy way.

I can give first-hand testimony that this is true. I have more empathy now for people who are different than me, and who have different lived experiences than me than I used to have, because I started practicing it.

I don't think those saying "nazi" mean it as an insult however. It's been explained over and over how many here see correlations between what is going on in the US today, and actual Nazi Germany. I mean, we do have actual, literal Nazis marching openly in the US. It's not an insult to say that, given they calll themselves Nazis. (The ones wearing/waving swastikas around.)

We don't call them Nazis because we 'disagree with them'. We disagree with them because they're Nazis.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

His wife definitely doesn't know what good sex is HEY-OOO!

Hell, maybe Heidi hasn’t let Fled have sex with her since he didn’t defend her after Trump called her ugly during the 2016 campaign. God only knows what Fled’s dad thinks of sonny boy for not having his back after Caramel Caligula accused him of being in on JFK’s assassination.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Gotta pick you up on that. He only wanted to have the position (and then only as a Fuck You to Obama after getting dragged at that White House Correspondents dinner). It's not like he had any interest in doing the job, especially after he found out he couldn't just nuke whoever he wanted. He spent most of the time watching Fox 'News', playing golf, and holding his never ending Love Me rallies.

Yeah, lets not pretend that Trump ever stressed about any decision he ever made, regardless of what it might be.

He'd order a drone strike and forget about it, the same way we might forget about leftovers in our fridge.

[babyblob]

The White House and GOP Have reached an agreement on the debt ceiling.

[Spike-X]

Yeah, lets not pretend that Trump ever stressed about any decision he ever made, regardless of what it might be.

I think the only thing he really stressed about during his time occupying the Oval Office was his poll numbers.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The White House and GOP Have reached an agreement on the debt ceiling.

You just beat me to that. I’d call that good news.