Politics 20/20

[ShadySands]

I'm really not a fan of Harris and her performance here did nothing to move that needle

[Skarpen]

I need to reevaluate the first debate because compared to Harris you can say Biden hold his ground. 

[Guard Dog]

All this talk about who "won". The Rays won! They beat the Yankees 8-4 in Game 3. 

There was nothing else worth watching on. 

[Pidesco]

The fly won.

[BruceVC]

I had  a stomach bug last night  which woke me up at 2 am and kept me awake so I watched most of the VP debate

I found it to be generally insipid and uninspiring and both candidates just avoided questions they didnt want to answer which are relevant 

For example the whole" Biden\Trump are over 70, have you discussed with them what happens if they have to step down due to ill health " 

[Malcador]

Good idea to have the second debate be virtual, but Trump isn't bothering. 

[Gromnir]

8 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I'm really not a fan of Harris and her performance here did nothing to move that needle

am agreeing save for two small qualifications:  

1) we were a "fan" o' harris previous to her Presidential run

2) it appeared as if the campaign decided that for the debate, harris should play the role o' the backup qb running out the clock.

while we never considered harris one our favorite options to replace trump, in her capacity as a US senator she did a fantastic job questioning committee witnesses. jeff sessions, william barr and brett kavanaugh all got pantsed and had their lunch money taken by harris. like her or dislike her, she were highly effective at making uncooperative witnesses look like bumbling dissemblers, and as much as we dislike william barr, "bumbling" is rare gonna be the way we describe him. 

...

after harris' failed run at the Presidency, a narrative which gained disproportionate traction were that American voters couldn't handle a strong woman. dunno. maybe. am unable to speak for voters not Gromnir. am knowing the reason we approved o' harris were precise 'cause she were smart and tough and were willing to adopt a take no prisoners approach with individuals who were lying or misleading. strong woman were not a problem for us.

have mentioned previous how we began to dislike harris as she ran for the democratic Presidential nomination in part 'cause she were one o' the democrat candidates most willing to adopt the tactics o' trump. no need to repeat old criticisms. nevertheless, is noteworthy how we actual started out as a harris fan and then soured on her more recent.

perhaps more significant, am thinking the biden/harris ticket is cognizant o' the current advantage they got over trump/pence in most battleground states and almost daily, trump does something to further annoy women and seniors. even though we think pence did better than harris in the debate (better by an extreme small margin), am suspecting he didn't help his campaign with suburban women last night, and he needed such help. as long as biden and harris do nothing overt to blow their lead, they win... or so appears to be the strategy. am not sure if we complete agree with such an approach, but is reasonable under the circumstances. trump and biden can't beat the covid-19, healthcare and economic pain issues which is foremost in the minds o' most Americans. when the backup qb is in the game and you got a big lead in the 4th quarter... *shrug*

similar to shady, the needle moved not at all for us insofar as our approval o' harris. if every american were viewing same as Gromnir (what a horrific notion) can't help but think biden and harris would consider such a quiescent non reaction to be a victory.

HA! Good Fun! 

[Malcador]

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/08/feds-thwart-militia-plot-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer/5922301002/

And

https://www.wlns.com/top-stories/breaking-standoff-in-munith-linked-to-governor-kidnapped-plot/

Pretty wild.

[Hurlshort]

That's terrible, but Antifa has been breaking windows and stuff, so you need to make sure to condemn them as well.

[Gfted1]

[Malcador]

The history of the Michigan Militia is rather interesting.  I did get a chuckle out of their founder saying the OKC bombing was done by the Japanese after the US sponsored the gas attack in Tokyo.

[HoonDing]

LIBERATE MICHIGAN!

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

That's terrible, but Antifa has been breaking windows and stuff, so you need to make sure to condemn them as well.

would be nice if a few real republicans were around who had the courage to speak against hate.

HA! Good Fun!

ps antifa sucks. while there may not be a genuine singular antifa leadership or group, those who identify as antifa has consistent stated they is approving' the use o' violence to respond to hateful protests and messaging by those they identify as fascists-- is their raison d'être in fact.  use violence to respond to admitted subjective offensive speech is wrong when is white supremacists doing or antifa or the federal stormtroopers william barr and donald trump illegal and Unconstitutional sent to portland. 

 

[Guard Dog]

2 hours ago, Gromnir said:

would be nice if a few real republicans were around who had the courage to speak against hate.

HA! Good Fun!

ps antifa sucks. while there may not be a genuine singular antifa leadership or group, those who identify as antifa has consistent stated they is approving' the use o' violence to respond to hateful protests and messaging by those they identify as fascists-- is their raison d'être in fact.  use violence to respond to admitted subjective offensive speech is wrong when is white supremacists doing or antifa or the federal stormtroopers william barr and donald trump illegal and Unconstitutional sent to portland. 

 

I am very glad Reagan and Goldwater are not around to see what has become of the republican partyI am very glad Reagan and Goldwater are not around to see what has become of the republican party

[ComradeYellow]

Wouldn't Reagan and Goldwater be proud of the current "Destroy The Left" Party it has been since like, Taft?

Remember, it was Reagan, who hated leftists so much that he armed Al Qaeda to try to stop them, and Goldwater advocated using nukes against the North Vietnamese government.  So yeah, I fail to see a discrepancy there

[Gromnir]

and trump instituted a muslim ban to combat extreme far-right religious fundamentalist terrorist groups, thus exposing his hidden leftist agenda.

wait, that doesn't make sense, does it?

the right v. left nonsense will mislead. for instance, the wolverine watchmen, one o' the groups accused o' targeting the michigan governor, has a member who in a online video displayed an anarchist flag on his wall, which fox news says proves these clowns is lefties. 'course the following is a picture o' the home and yard o' the wolverine watchman's s'posed leader.

shouldn't be so hard to condemn hate and violence, particular when is americans doing unto americans. shouldn't need resort to whataboutism so utter transparent. shouldn't take a moment's hesitation for real republicans to condemn this kinda nonsense.

is funny how @Hurlshot joked 'bout the predictable whataboutism spin towards antifa. took trump a long time to respond to the situation in michigan and when he finally did it were exact 'ccording to the script hurl envisioned. worse actual as in his tweet trump were claiming ownership o' federal law enforcement and doj as well whimpering over the absence o' a personal thank you from governor whitmer. 'course hurl weren't exact channeling the oracle o' delphi or anything as trump's response were comical and nevertheless terrible predictable... albeit a bit more unhinged than even we woulda' predicted.

clown indeed

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

The political spectrum is not a line. It’s more like a horseshoe. The two extremes are closer to each other then either is to the mean.

[Guard Dog]

The red lights are flashing in the ****pit. But there is no pilot: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/economy/deficit-debt-pandemic-cbo/index.html

Guys, I want to stress to you that there is nothing that can be done about this. No possible outcomes of the 2020 election will help. To fix this problem the US Government must freeze spending for at least five years. No extra spending, no pay raises for SSN or folks who work for the govt. A real freeze. In five years (give or take) normal economic growth will make this manageable again.

Don't think taxing will help. According to Kiplinger there are 8.3M American households with assets over $1M. The average assets of this elite bunch is $4.6M. This groups includes the billionaires. If you seized every nickel they had, killed them and sold their organs on the black market, sold their children into slavery, and used their pets for school lunches this will get you to $3.8T. Congratulations you just covered Uncle Sam's spending deficit for one year! And now you are fresh out of millionaires. 

Cutting spending is another way to go. No not reducing the rate of increasing spending. CUTTING it. Spend less in 2022 than in 2021. No politician is going to face their voters and say no more bread and circuses. Although they should. 

So, what can YOU do? If the train goes over the cliff inflation is a real possibility. Possibly runaway inflation. The only way the political class knows how to handle debt is to monetize it. Devalue the currency. They are been doing this and calling it "stimulus" for years. In the case of inflation there are more and more dollars chasing the same number of assets. So the cost of the assets goes up. Here is the problem. They money you have in saving or investments does not change in quantity. It just loses it's buying power. It loses it's value. If you have a $1k in savings as an example. If the cost of everything goes up by 50% your saving as been cut in half. So my advice is this: Get out of debt. If you are out do NOT go in. Invest in real assets that have value irrespective of currency. Not Gold. It's seriously overpriced. Still invest in stocks if that is your thing but stick with large cap companies with minimal debt service. If/when inflation comes debt will be a killer. DO NOT buy US Treasuries or bonds. They are NOT a good credit risk. The default is inevitable. It is a fait accompli.

Just my $.02

[Guard Dog]

US to impose tariffs on $1.96B worth of aluminum sheet goods

Hmmm…. I don't recall Congress taking this up. What was that you said? They didn't? Really? But how could that be? I seem to recall in the US Constitution Article I Section 8:

Quote

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

It's the FIRST GODDAMNED SENTENCE!

THIS is why the country is f---d. This in not Trump. They should have put a stop to this s--t with Wilson. Trump is just the latest in a long line. Sometimes I think we'd be better off abolishing the Executive Branch. 

 

[Gorth]

36 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Cutting spending is another way to go. No not reducing the rate of increasing spending. CUTTING it. Spend less in 2022 than in 2021. No politician is going to face their voters and say no more bread and circuses. Although they should.

The US already has the death penalty, time to introduce pay per view for networks to show live executions, gladiatorial games in the arenas, prisoner inmates vs. lions... you name it. Keeps the populace calm and increases the government revenue. It worked for a while for the Romans

 

https://sites.middlebury.edu/circusmaximus/files/2013/09/intro-conclusion-activity.pdf

 

[Guard Dog]

3 minutes ago, Gorth said:

The US already has the death penalty, time to introduce pay per view for networks to show live executions, gladiatorial games in the arenas, prisoner inmates vs. lions... you name it. Keeps the populace calm and increases the government revenue. It worked for a while for the Romans

 

https://sites.middlebury.edu/circusmaximus/files/2013/09/intro-conclusion-activity.pdf

 

While we’re at it we can make the citizens pay to use public toilets to. Another Roman innovation.

[ComradeYellow]

8 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

The political spectrum is not a line. It’s more like a horseshoe. The two extremes are closer to each other then either is to the mean.

By worldwide standards, the United States is slanted rightward pretty far.  The Clinton's and the Obama's and the Biden's are quite conservative.  What is the definition of 'Conservative'?  Maintaining the status quo.  Progressives, on the other hand, want to push the status quo forward, which means repairing old grievances and coming to new levels of understanding with the world at large.

[Pidesco]

American politics is usually right wing against more right wing. The "extremist" AOCs and Bernie Sanders of American politics would be moderate left wingers in most of the developed world.

[ComradeYellow]

Yes I'm considered and extremist here just because of my anti-war and pro-environment stance, also government offering 'Green' jobs for those who want one is considered 'extreme' here, even though I am by-and-large pretty fiscally conservative in leaving the private sector alone.  Funny because one of our greatest Presidents, FDR, was far more to the left on the economy than that.  He's now considered and a left wing radical because of people like Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater polluted our political environment.

[Guard Dog]

Reading about the plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan. I really don’t understand what their endgame was. What did they hope to accomplish by all this? Any concessions they got would be fake. And it’s not like they’re going to get to walk away from that. Maybe that kind of thinking just defies rational reasoning. Maybe guys like that just do things to do them. 
 

Hey I am 100% forgiving your life for the cause if you believe in it. I have said in the past with great conviction that I would defend my home and my property to my very last bullet. But this one doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.