nsplayr

I'll throw in this opinion...supporting the incumbent President of your preferred party when he's running for reelection is not an irrational pick for relatively party-line voters. If you are a steady Republican, it made perfect sense to support Trump in 2020. Even if you found him a bit distasteful in 2016 or supported someone else initially in that primary or didn't agree with everything he did in office. By 2020, he's your party's guy, he's doing Republican things while in office, he's eligible for and interested in being reelected...it's extremely rational for a R voter to punch R again on that ballot. Was he fairly old in 2020? Was he fairly batshit crazy in 2020? I would say yes to both, but I don't begrudge loyal Republicans for voting for Republicans the vast majority of the time, it is what it is. The exact same rational works for Dems right now. I am a loyal Dem voter and fairly rational. The emotional thing to do would be to want to jettison an incumbent President who wants to run & is eligible for another term and magically get someone younger & more dynamic. Hell, while I have that magic wand I wanna get rid of Harris too and move on to someone else on the bench (I've listed lost of options I like better before). BUT, like I said, I'm a relatively rational voter, exactly what you say you want to see. The rational case for a Dem/liberal voter is that Biden is the incumbent, has a track record of winning and governing in a way I generally support, I'm voting for him again in 2024. I do wish he were younger, I would change some policies here and there, I would jettison his VP into the sun and pick a new running mate...but I'm not a wizard, I'm just a guy with one vote and a few dollars here and there to donate. For my friends on the right, Trump is no longer an incumbent. He has a track record of losing. The GOP should have a real primary for 2024, although TBD because right now Trump is winning very easily. If y'all want someone else by all means make that happen! I for one as a Democrat do not hope that Trump is the nominee because I think another Trump term would be disastrous for our democratic institutions. He basically was willing to nuke the constitution to stay in office when things didn't go his way and we got saved by the hair on our chins by Mike Pence and some lucky breaks. Haley, Scott, etc. are fine; I don't "like" them or their policies, but they are normal Republicans that the country is used to. Even DeSantis, who I think sucks very badly, would be better. Best of luck to whatever shreds are left of the anti-Trump right, I legit wish you all luck cleaning up your house.

I know next to zero about any of these potential next CSAFs if CQB is elevated to Chairman, but I did get a picture with VO 15 years ago when she was the WG/CC at Randolph and I was graduating nav school. Would be cool to see her all the way up there as CSAF when I'm still just a lowly crew dawg 😅

Chang, “service before self” doesn’t mean masturbation, I think your mixing up your terms. But to play along with your delusion, yes, I’m servicing myself quite regularly. I appreciate you always checking up on the troops’ health & wellness sir 🫡🇺🇸

Y’all on the right have agency here! I’ve beat this horse but I’ll say it again: no one is forcing those on the right to radicalize, talk about civil war, a national divorce, storm the Capitol, etc. Joe Biden is president and no matter what many here think, he’s not a radical. The GOP controls the US House, SCOTUS and the majority of governors mansions. I am a liberal but not a leftist and am working hard to discredit and keep those on the radical left out of power. So BL: no one can force you to vote for Trump, to call for a national divorce, to empower bomb throwers like MTG, etc. At some point the moderate and center-of-mass-ish conservative GOP voters and leaders need do also do the right thing, just like I believe those in the Democratic Party are doing. Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, etc. are the leaders of the Dem party and generally don’t take too much shit or direction from some of the terminally online commies and DEI warriors that I and many of y’all rightfully denounce. All those lefties suck and I will forcefully defend the idea that they do not hold much actual political power in the Democratic Party today. So do the same. Flush out the Nazis, the blood and soil radical nationalists, the bigots and the white supremacists. I don’t believe they represent the true values of the GOP, but their voices have been louder in the last 6-9 years than at any point previously in my lifetime.

Narrator: this did not, in fact, happen. Willing to make a bet on this specifically? I’ll send ya a nice bottle of your choice the day we’re forced to don the armbands, maybe you can do the same for me if it doesn’t happen. You wanna do one year? Five? Dealer’s choice. Too many of y’all make all these hyperbolic posts about how the country is rapidly going to hell and civil war is imminent and the rest of the normal folks out there just refuse to cooperate apparently. Sorry not sorry. Our country is strong and great and resilient despite our flaws and anyone who doesn’t see that is deluding themselves 🇺🇸

Cool, I’ll buy that, there is a distinction there. I am pretty confident a ton of Christians don’t think premarital sex or homosexual sex are actually sinful, but I can’t say for certain it’s a majority.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/views-about-same-sex-marriage#views-about-same-sex-marriage 57% of Catholics, 57% of mainline Protestants, and 54% of orthodox Christians in the US say when asked that they support same sex marriage so…do with that what you will! I don’t think your assertion is true. I will counter by claiming that 99.9% of Pastafarians are pro same sex marriage, and this cannot be so easily disproven. 0.1% allowances because every group has that one asshole. 🤷‍♂️ Ye do what ye wish with yer sexy parts mateys!

We Pastafarians are a peace & piracy loving people who accept all of the FSM’s people. May his noodly appendage touch you all, Ramen.

Also relevant, it wasn’t their tongues that the priests were asking little boys to suck! 🍆😅

If there are crimes committed by Dems (or anyone) within the jurisdiction of a DA or AG that represents you, by all means, write to them and encourage them to apply the law and bring charges! If they don’t or won’t for political reasons, work to vote them out at the next opportunity. What should NOT happen is direct political retribution, or different justice applied on different places based solely on party (or race, or gender, or whatever). Equal justice under the law for everyone is the goal that we have yet to achieve - work to get there rather than explicitly calling for the opposite like some have done here.

This is false. If you commit crimes, no matter who you are, you should face appropriate justice. Jaywalking, come the F on. Any of the other stuff I’ve talked about recently, yea, if you do crimes you should face the justice system regardless of who you are or who you vote for. If you think the law has been applied unevenly in the past, you are right! I agree with you! So let’s apply it correctly now.

Democracy and keeping our institutions strong is a choice. And you’re actively choosing to do otherwise it seems. Again, it’s not the (few) Dems or more liberal people here on this forum calling for a civil war, saying “there will be retribution,” saying democracy is dead, etc. At least not me that I remember. Recently it’s very, very frequently been the GOP/right/whatever folks. You do know it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy to say “democracy is dead” and then kill it on purpose when you win the next election, right? Same goes for “government is bad.” Damndest thing, that comes true when the party that believes that takes power and then deliberately runs things poorly! How about, and this might sound crazy, we *not* do that? Just spitballing here… Stop calling for a civil war, stop saying democracy is dead, stop choosing retribution and revenge fantasies rather than keeping our country strong. Many of us are currently serving and it’s frankly shameful to want to tear down the very government you are a part of and trash the institutions and values we should be protecting. The country is imperfect, copy. Work to perfect it then! Same message BTW for the radical leftists who are stridently opposed to the American system of government and our way of life. F them and F anyone on any side who wants to burn it all down and start again; that does not turn out well.

I agree that the NYC case here against trump is weak and likely should not have been brought even if he likely did commit the crimes in question. It will unfortunately tamp down seriousness of the GA election interference case in particular, which I think is extremely persuasive. He’s on tape very directly doing the crime in question! No one is above the law, but you also probably should not bring cases that in other circumstances would be settled out of court with fines.

It's fairly similar, although Clinton's case didn't involve any money or campaign finance or business laws. But both are bad! Getting your dick sucked in the Oval Office (while married) and then blatantly lying about it is bad! As much as we all love a solid BJ now and again lol. Bill was impeached for his crime, which is the appropriate legal process for a sitting President. Glad we seem to agree. The appropriate legal process for a former President is just the regular ole' legal system, because "former President" is not a public office. Citizen Trump should face the same consequences as anyone else, no more, no less. And yea, boning a porn star (while married), and then secretly paying her (and others) hush money to cover it up while running for President is bad. Not like murdering school kids bad, but morally bad and potentially illegal depending on how you do it (I'm not a lawyer). John Edwards and Newt Gingrich, who are in the same-ish realm in terms of what they did, are also bad and no one should vote for or trust liars who cheat on their wives.

People who do crimes should face justice and be arraigned, tried and convicted as necessary. Anyone and everyone. This goes for murdering little children at school, shooting a rival gang member, running over protesters with you car, looting during a riot, being an insurrectionist & storming the seat of government, being a member of Congress who unjustly profits off their positions, or being a former Presidents who seemingly broke quite a few laws in numerous and colorful ways. No one is above the law.

Might be for the best Mr. Internet Tough guy. I think I've engaged with you in pretty good faith, but for whatever reason you got hostile and started calling names 🤷‍♂️ If you want to use the quote function and debate about something I've said, feel free. If you want to ask specific questions, go for it. But probably leave out the part where you call folks simpletons, rubes, unpatriotic, etc. if you actually want a back-and-forth. OTOH if you just want to have a karate fight on the beach or whatever...lol ok good luck with that. Edit to add: Honestly that sounds pretty fun now that I say it like that 🥷🏖️

Am I involved in this conversation at all? Super confused by tagging me here. @FourFans do you have any idea what my beliefs on this topic are? Do I attend church regularly with my family? Do I think that religious groups on the whole are a positive influence on society? What are my views on loneliness, social connection, or the importance of unifying goals and values to a group? Why don’t you go ahead and tell me Mr. Smart Guy, because you’re such a fucking wise student of history and I am but a smooth-brain simpleton 😂

First mistake right there haha! Most TV news gives you brain worms very fast.

@Biff_T dude NGL you have a weird and consistent obsession with trans people and their issues. Has someone who is trans hurt you in some way or what are we talking about? You have brought this up in damn near every post recently even when seemingly unrelated things are being discussed just prior, and it’s strange. I’m legit not trying to bash you but I don’t understand this aspect of your posts.

Yet many “extremists MAGA republicans” lost winnable senate and House races in the midterms. Seems like it was more believable in that direction this time around! The same line that doesn’t have any impact on Susan Collins works pretty well against Hershel Walker for instance. Calling Biden an extremist won’t work and it’s not the best line of attack Republicans could use against him. But by all means…please try if you’re ok with losing again.

I'm not ignorant about Democratic Party politics or policy, I'm not sure why you would believe that. There is some batshit crazy stuff on the left, yep, congrats on identifying that! I will again point out that the only people talking about (wishcasting?) a civil war are those on the right. WTF is with y'all and all this civil war talk, seriously? I'd like our country to continue on for many more prosperous, harmonious years as a multi-party, multi-racial capitalist democracy that's the leader of the free world - feel free to join me in that. DiAngelo sucks and I strongly dislike her entire worldview. Kendi is a somewhat radical academic, but hey, it's a free country. Have you read any of his work? I can see from his point of view why he believes what he believes, even if I don't necessarily agree. Same with Crenshaw, although I'm even less familiar with her or her work. I don't find any of the above have a particularly strong influence over Joe Biden or even a connection in almost any way to his administration. I promise you that conservatives think about and worry about things like CRT 1,000x more than your average normie Democratic voter does. I don't particularly think about or care about that stuff at all. Economic growth, national defense, clean energy transition, healthcare costs & effectiveness...those are the big drivers for my vote. How sure of this statement are you? And I'm not even including people like Steve Bannon or Sebastian Gorka, who have both said some absolutely batshit crazy stuff and affiliate frequently with the most far-right radicals out there. They both were appointed to very high-level White House positions in the Trump admin. Look, I'm willing to agree in general that Trump isn't necessarily responsible for or in agreement with everyone crazy right-wing person, but I think it's fair to say the same for Biden and every person on the left you hate. Is that not fair? Amy Klobuchar is a close ally of Biden and his administration, and somewhat famously dropped out of the 2020 Presidential primary and endorsed Biden as a way to consolidate mainstream Dem support behind him and to block Bernie from winning. If you like her and her policies, there's really no reason why you should think Biden and his admin are the devil. She spoke at his inauguration! Ro Khanna is very progressive, more than me by far, and was a big Bernie endorser in 2020...I'm surprised you like him and then also think Biden is super radical left or whatever. BL: you seem to have some very interesting political views!

Whether you believe it or not, people like Joe Biden are the mainstream of the party and have been for a while. More liberal in many ways than in the past, even Clinton 90s past, but parties change and evolve all the time. More conservative in other ways than, say, FDR or LBJ. The GOP has certainly changed quite a bit in my lifetime, especially in the last ~10 years from Romney/Ryan 2012 to MAGA & Trump today. There’s a very broad swath of ideology between those two camps just within the Republican Party! There is a large part of the Dem party to the left of Biden, like Bernie et al, and there are some to the right like Manchin, Eric Adams, etc. It also varies by issue and region and there’s not a smooth alignment of ideology or policy along any one axis as I’m sure you know. You don’t have to like it or agree with current admin policies, but calling Biden a radical is not a winning strategy and not believable to the American public. In fact, it’s such a bad strategy that I really hope all my Republicans friends go for it full bore!

🤷‍♂️ not really. The ask was for reasons why I support the Biden admin, not what my critiques were. Hell, I even provided a few of those free of charge! Look, there are tons of conservative opinions around here to choose from in several different flavors...if folks want a thread to confirm their beliefs about how Biden sucks, they've largely come to the right place! I'm happy to provide a liberal critique of the Biden admin if folks want to hear that, but you have to understand it's going to be milder because A) I disagree with the premise of many conservative critiques and, B) I think the pluses are far outweighing the minusus, which is why I would vote for Biden again in 2024 if he runs or for another mainstream Dem if they run on a similar policy platform. There's absolutely no "anything to retain power;" that was the previous guy. I would not, for instance, storm the Capitol building to try to stop the certification of the Presidential vote, and I would strongly condemn any Dem or liberal or whomever who called for anything even approaching that. If Biden loses in 2024 or decides not to run, so be it. Let's make the best of what's next, whether it's a successor Dem admin or a new GOP one. Yep, I like him a lot! I was ready to vote for him in the TN primary last time around and even went to his rally downtown, but he dropped out literally two days before Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden, so I voted for Biden. It was actually incredible and surprising coordinated consolidation around Biden to block Bernie, and overall that made sense to me and earned my primary vote. Klobuchar was my second choice, but she was in the same exact boat as Mayor Pete.

Not really, no, sorry 🍻

Nuclear power is great and we should build way, way more! Never should have stopped building. Put a small modular reactor on every mil base and near every major city. Also if/when we figure out fusion it’s game over for everything else and we can usher in a future of incredible energy abundance. In the meantime, and because the HOA prohibits nuclear reactors on neighborhood lots, have solar on my roof and it’s awesome!