1 hour ago, Renegade7 said:

This bamma tried to spike the ball in the endzone before even catching it...

 

If he really wants a quick victory, stop being a little ***** and legalize recreational weed already.

 

Read the room, Sweatervest.

Youngkin:

Putting this here (no idea which thread anything I post should go in anymore lol):

Since this thread was on page 3, I'm gonna assume this wasn't posted yet lol...

Maybe I should have put this in the GOP thread instead...

EDIT: I put it in the GOP thread instead.

2 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

 

I really need people to stop telling me how great the economy is doing when we spending almost as much on daycare for our two daughters as we do on rent.

 

There are certain aspects of what impacts people's dinner table conversations that the stock market or overall unemployment just doesn't matter to.

 

Biden deserves credit for attacking egrious fees and picking away at student loan debt.  But the cost of loving is the real problem here, and if that's not a different conversation then how well the economy as a whole is doing then it needs to be.

For the most part, the two go hand in hand, though...

If we want politicians to stop looking solely at economic indicators and instead look at families' bank accounts and kitchen tables, then we also need families to stop looking only at their bank accounts and start paying attention to national economic indicators. Voters insist on the first, and laugh off the second. It should be possible to say both that I'm struggling financially but the country's economy is not. But that can feel like being in the middle of a lake drowning, and hearing someone say "Very few people ever drown in this lake, it's one of the safest lakes in the country"...

8 minutes ago, Fan since a Fetus said:

Deadline - David Simon -MTG
 

David Simon of The Wire fame has been giving it to these numbnuts conspiracy theorists. This is my favorite quote from the article:

 

41 minutes ago, Riggo-toni said:

But he wasn't. The previous DA dropped the case.

Which previous DA are you referring to and which charges were dropped?

3 hours ago, Riggo-toni said:

The statute if limitations already ran out on the crime Trump actually committed (falsifying business records)

No it didn't.

New York pauses the statute of limitations when a defendant is out of the state for the majority of the time covered by the statute of limitations. That way criminals don't get to just cross state lines (or leave the country) for several years and escape prosecution.

Harvard Should Break up With the Harris Poll

Harvard is lending its name to a methodologically flawed poll that often promotes a right-wing political agenda.

https://www.thecrimson.com/column/forging-harvards-future/article/2024/3/26/bodnick-/

Every month, the Harvard-Harris Poll administers a public opinion survey that tracks Americans’ attitudes on a wide range of political and social issues.

[...]To see this ideological slant, let’s take a look at a question in last month’s poll about (the) bipartisan immigration bill.

In the prompt, the poll regurgitated Republican talking points, citing the number of migrants that would enter the country each day — a claim that is highly misleading — and stating that Trump has opposed the bill “to give the Biden administration any wins on an issue that he says they failed to do anything about.”

The question failed to specify a single positive consequence of the bill. Naturally, as a result of this skewed framing, the results showed that a majority supported Trump’s position of blocking the bill from passing.

[...]In addition to ideologically slanted wording, the poll frequently lacks a “don’t know” option. “That’s going to force respondents with different views to pick a side at random," criticized Will Jordan, a Democratic pollster. “But the numbers get shared as if they’re real attitudes.”

[...]the Harvard-Harris poll sometimes sequences questions in ways that can confuse respondents. For instance, the Dec. poll also found that 67 percent of young adults agree that “Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors” — an eye-popping result. This finding aligned with a narrative pushed by many conservatives: that leftists and young people are deeply antisemitic.

But that question was placed immediately after multiple questions about affirmative action and could have been easily misunderstood as a question about the way that Jews should be treated under an affirmative action system.

The Harvard-Harris poll misleads Americans with its flawed methodology and right-wing political agenda, but it’s unfortunately widely cited by mainstream media in potentially misleading ways. For example, the finding that young adults believe Jews are oppressors was cited all over the news.

******************

For the record, the "Jews should be treated as oppressors" poll question the article mentions went something like this:

- In Affirmative Action, certain segments of society have historically been oppressed

- In Affirmative Action, the white majority has been considered oppressors

- In society, oppressors tend to get all the breaks and benefits that the oppressed do not

- (Follow-up poll question): Do you think Jews should be considered oppressors or be considered as being oppressed?

News headlines: Poll Finds Young Americans Think Israel are the Oppressors in the Israel-Hamas War

20 hours ago, Destino said:

Jake Gyllenhaal On the other hand is walking around thinking “keep it happy man, they’re paying good money so as long as I don’t kill anyone I can live on that boat.” It’s clear that he’s barely in control annd wildly over compensating to keep the demon under control. Dude tries to tell people, but they’re like “what you dangerous? No man, you’re so nice!”

 

Hell, even Conor Mcgregor told Dalton "There's something wrong with you" lol...it didn't really occur to me how on-the-nose that comment was until I read your post.

2 minutes ago, China said:

 

Not sure whether you realize that he was arrested, four times?

I think you meant to ask that of Bang lol...

"I just noticed the 'arrest watch' thread is over a year old." -Bang

I was only commenting on why the thread was started...and it was started because Trump said on Truth Social that he was mere days from being arrested, and the thread starter knew there could be a ton of posts about it spread over several different threads.

2 minutes ago, China said:

 

 

 

 

Not sure about what: if it was Trump floating the rumor that he was about to be arrested back then? Or not sure if we shouldn't have believed him?

4 minutes ago, Dan T. said:

 

I go with doing an artistic rendering...taking a photo could still leave you with time to save him lol...

4 hours ago, Bang said:

I just noticed the 'arrest watch' thread is over a year old.
Weakness is all we've seen.

 

~Bang

And Trump was the one back then spreading the rumor that he was about to be arrested lol...we should have known it was a lie.

23 minutes ago, Jumbo said:

 

In current American politics, I think it's become increasingly questionable and difficult for intelligent, decent, fair minded people running various media platforms to provide a traditional balance of liberal/democrat and conservative/republican (who are now dominantly "maga") voices, with a clean conscience for giving both "air space." 

 

The presumption in the past was that both sides shared a basic definition (and love) of democracy, as well as truth, facts, fairness, justice, and other values.

 

In the past neither side seemed obviously dominated by a large majority of elected officials and base voters dedicated to propagating thoughts and behaviors that would in the past be generally regarded by both sides as repugnant, hateful, immoral, ignorant, unethical, malign, even anti democratic. As well as being permeated with deception, distortion, and outright lies as a staple of their discourse.

 

It is hard to honestly argue that the bulk of the now maga dominated GOP is not steeped in those characteristics.

 

As late as the early 190Os you could still find many places and people all across the nation where arguments were made from newspapers to universities to community meetings that the KKK were not all racist or hateful, but also had many good Christians and good citizens in their movement who were decent charitable people.

 

And that there were many other non members who supported that "movement" and were just "patriots" and "true Americans" who didn't want to beat or lynch black people, but who "just" thought they should either "rightfully" accept a lesser status in our society, or leave the country, or live within "proper restrictions" in their own segregated communities. 

 

These views were given space in service of "fairness" in proper debate.

 

Until, finally, it was recognized as not ok anymore and the KKK could not be regarded as anything other than what it truly was and had been for a long time.  

 

Nambla tried to argue itself into acceptance too. Some spokespeople were given "equal time" in media but it was minimal and died quickly.

 

Btw, German socialism and the nazi party went through that same type of process in its evolution. But with the majority there eventually succumbing to a culture of grievances, otherism, and full on fascism.

 

Is there a point where "good people" believing in giving equal time to maga/trump world are walking that same path as examples above?

 

Too soon and not enough "evidence" to seriously consider the question?

 

Or is invoking Godwin's law the appropriate rebuke to my comments?

 

Fact is, practically speaking, it's hard to imagine how you could censor a huge portion of the population even from just "mainstream" media even if deemed appropriate and needed even not counting the uncontrollable internet.

 

But do you need to be among those who do choose to facilitate or amplify their "voice"?

 

We live in interesting, and dangerous, times.

 

 

 

To me, understanding someone does not require amplifying their beliefs, giving them equal time, or giving their rhetoric legitimacy.

You can understand someone without ever meeting them or talking to them. Someone walks into a bank with a ski mask on and a gun tucked into the waistband of their pants, trust me, we understand them completely lol...I don't think saying "Maybe it's cold outside, or maybe he just has a skin condition and that's why he's wearing the ski mask" is necessary at that point. We understand completely why that person with the ski mask and the gun just walked into the bank.

This is why so many are angry at MSNBC--because we already understand and know the MAGA side and perspective all too well. And I think the more people that fully and completely understand who MAGA is and what it's about, the better.

But understanding them does not require mainstream media outlet giving a paid position to one of MAGA's most vile propagandist who is devoted to spreading lies and misinformation, and who could realistically end up trying to gaslight your viewing audience.

4 hours ago, Die Hard said:

Honest question.

 

Why is there a need (necessity) to understand? What is it a pre-requisite for?

 

This is all political theatre.

Honest answer:

What you just said, is you understanding them.

So my follow-up question is this: why do you think it might be important for everyone to understand this about them?

7 hours ago, The Evil Genius said:

Censored for NSFW language and other things.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

That's not due to Trump, that's due to crappy plastic surgery, a vain woman trying to hold onto her youth and failing, and our society's mistaken belief that women must remain ****able at all costs. I mean, Trump didn't help any, that's for sure lol...but there's quite a bit of time in between those two images.

Now, the mental/emotional damage could be chalked up to Trump...per her aide awhile back:

"Guilfoyle spoke incessantly and luridly about her sex life, and on one occasion demanded a massage of her bare thighs; other times, she said, Guilfoyle told her to submit to a Fox employee’s demands for sexual favors, encouraged her to sleep with wealthy and powerful men, asked her to critique her naked body, demanded that she share a room with her on business trips, required her to sleep over at her apartment, and exposed herself to her, making her feel deeply uncomfortable."

9 hours ago, Simmsy said:

Ugh! I'm so tired of this stupid narrative that we need to "understand the other side". No, no we don't, there is nothing to understand. Stop cow towing to these fools, you won't win them over, just stop it!

Actually I disagree...we need to understand the other side. And by and large, we do understand them completely, and all too well.

1 hour ago, Jumbo said:

Few people I know have never said unfortunate things regarding race..

 

I never have. Ever.

11 minutes ago, Jumbo said:

...religion...

 

I never have, ever.

13 minutes ago, Jumbo said:

...sexual identity...

 

I never have. Ever.

14 minutes ago, Jumbo said:

...or certain pro sports teams and their fans.

 

I'm disappointed but not outraged or thinking he's getting special treatment:

1) I literally have no idea if reducing bonds and giving brief extensions is normal or not, so I have no clue whether or not this should be seen as Trump getting special treatment

2) I have no idea how they came up with a reduced figure of $175 Million, but doubting it's arbitrary

3) I have no idea if this is a figure Trump can come up with easily within 10 days

But, dammit, I had my popcorn ready lol...

4 hours ago, Destino said:

What? Nothing about the OG Dalton was believable. The entire movie was so cheesy it should come with a side of nachos. That was the entire point. It never tried to make sense it just gave you fun stupidity. I mean it starts with the premise that bouncers are famous. And this was before the internet so presumably he’s been in a nationally circulated paper. lol
 

Completely agree with the part in bold.

The movie starts with the ridiculous premise that bouncers are famous...

...and ends with a climatic fight scene featuring:

- a car exploding in mid-air

- a stuffed polar bear

- someone throwing a spear, and;

- this visual:

I don't think the word "believable" should ever be used in connection to the original Road House lol...

2 hours ago, Skinsfan1311 said:

The original Road House is so good, because it is so bad!

I think I've come to appreciate that aspect more now, than when I was actually watching it lol...it's memorable as hell for a bunch of different reasons, not all of them good.

5 hours ago, tshile said:

well. Here we are

 

https://www.wired.com/story/deepfake-nude-generator-chilling-look-at-its-victims/

 

two middle schoolers in Florida already arrested for doing this with photos of their classmates. 
 

but yeah, every time you upload a photo you’re likely putting it out there permanently, and that person will show up on many of the porn sites. 
 

Going to be interesting watching how courts deal with this and what punishments are determined to be for doing it. 

This part seriously bothered me:

"This month, NBC reported that, for seven months, Meta had hosted ads for a deepnude app. The app boasted about its ability to “undress” people, using a picture of Jenna Ortega from when she was 16 years old."

I get that with the insane speed of AI development and every single platform trying to one-up each other to avoid getting left behind in a crowded marketplace, it's gonna take awhile for laws to catch up, but there should already be a way for social media outlets to monitor the ads they allow on their platforms.

I saw that the two teens who did the deep fakes of their classmates was the first case of its kind to lead to arrests. I'm curious as to what laws were used to bring charges and what the teens did to get them on the radar of law enforcement...were the arrests made under a new law, or under existing laws that are now being used for **** like this (I'm not curious enough to go look, though lol). I'm all for the arrests, but I've also been all for the arrest of people who hack and leak nude photos of celebrities (or of anyone, actually). Child (p-word) definitely includes fakes, thankfully, but I think only if the fake can reasonably pass for a real image.

I used to go to this store where people could sell their handmade items--the stuff in this store tended to be far more avant-garde than things like handmade pot holders lol...anyway, one time I looked at some books at that store, and one had a bunch of hand-drawn images in them (very well done), black and white pen illustrations of bondage and other sexual stuff. And in a few books some of the illustrations featured kids--nude--in sexual situations with adults. My assumption at the time was since it's hand-drawn I guess it's legal.

3 hours ago, HoggLife said:

Biden is owned by China and Ukraine. Seems like you are using the same pipe as Hunter. 

You have a Word document with MAGA talking points that you just copy and paste into your posts, don't you...

In case you guys forgot about the GoFundMe effort...