Political Posts

[RichardGibbons]

1 hour ago, Parsad said:

 

This is not what he said at all.  What he said was that the right was saying it was a leftist trannie that killed Kirk.  Kimmel said that the killer grew up surrounded by a MAGA family.  Essentially, he may have been leftist, but he grew up in a MAGA family...that everyone was to blame, not any one single group.  But of course people took offense to it and maybe Kimmel should have made it clearer what he meant.  Cheers!

 

This is the exact quote:

 

Quote

We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

 

It seems very clear to me that he was strongly imply that the person was MAGA. And it's pretty clear, because sure, it's the truth that MAGA was accurately trying to characterize him as leftist and make some political hay, but it's simply the truth, and not really funny.

 

But the reverse joke actually has some humor, because it's actually kind of ridiculous.  Like, he could have said,

 

"We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the Democrats desperately trying to characterize this kid as MAGA.  Yep, they're suggesting that the dude dating the trans woman was actually a huge fan of the Republican party. And what, him shooting MAGA's poster child was just a case of missing identity?!?"

 

That said, there should have been no government response or censorship from him saying it. But saying that the MAGA gang was DESPERATELY trying to characterize him as non-MAGA, implying they were grasping for anything ("anything other than one of them") certainly strongly implies that he was MAGA.

[cwericb]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

Im all for free speech, but I also think having politics on this board is stupid and unproductive and have said so a million times. 

 

Says he who regularly posts on the Politics Board a million times. 

[dwy000]

So now a US attorney in Virginia is being forced to resign for not finding enough evidence to prosecute a Trump enemy.

 

Oh and Pentagon reporters are now required to get government authorization before reporting or lose their credentials.

 

How can anyone look at the past few days and not admit theyre watching fascism advancing  before their eyes, let alone support it because its from Dear Leader. 

[whiskybravo]

3 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Oh my God!  This was a very limited issue...and any risk was even lower.  There are more pedos released into the public every day by each state...the chance of something happening in the schools was extremely low-risk.  They are more likely to die from measles now in Florida than any risk of molestation.  Cheers!

If Marco’s view is more in sync with the electorate and the democrats want to win elections, wouldn’t it be wiser to modify such positions?  Moral high ground claimed, but Trump president vs. realistic political calculation

[Spekulatius]

Russia violating Estonia air space with fighter jets This after drone incursions in Romania and Poland. The Russian jets were in Estonia’s air space for a while, so this was no accident. Estonia is  requesting formal consultation..

I personally think they should just shoot them down if it happens again, because Russia is clearly testing NATO. I am sure the Russian understand “Thou shall not pass” if the fighter jets are gone. 

 

[whiskybravo]

As Matt Taibbi said:  “If the Trump administration follows through on its FCC threats, we will all be robbed of the joy of legacy media failure…..It would be the greatest Schadenfreude robbery in history.”

 

Very hamfisted to turn political hacks masquerading as comedians into martyrs.  Let’s not have a government truth commission. Let the market handle it.

 

[RichardGibbons]

5 hours ago, Parsad said:

There are a number of people who are spreading false narratives and stories on here...both sides...and people are calling each other out on it.  This has rarely happened with other Presidents...it increases and spreads through the site every time Trump sits on the throne.  And it's directly because he's destroyed any sense of decorum in the way the President should behave...this trickles down the ranks to the common people.  And we get this animosity and division.  Cheers!

 

+1.

 

Like everything, there's more to it than that, but this is a huge component of it that basically seems to be ignored by everyone.

[thowed]

 

10 hours ago, RichardGibbons said:

there should have been no government response or censorship from him saying it

 

I don't think we need to say anything more than this really. 

 

(But I will....)

 

It was a joke.  In the Land of the Free.  Whether or not people found it funny (I didn't especially, though the video of Trump afterwards, which few have mentioned, was bleakly hilarious) shouldn't matter.  I've heard a lot more offensive jokes in my time - and a lot more offensive non-jokes from politicians on both sides recently.

 

I find this direction of censorship very concerning - I'm not saying it WILL happen - but if you look at history, ignoring this sort of stuff is usually how societies sleepwalk into becoming the sort of autocracies or banana republics that the US has always viewed as the enemy.

 

Still hoping that all you smart guys on here, instead of criticising the Radical Left OR the Fascist Right, will just go for the extremists on BOTH sides - at this point I'm not bothered if it's a moderate Left or moderate Right, just people with sense.

[Castanza]

On 9/18/2025 at 8:17 PM, Mephistopheles said:

None of them close to the autocratic threat that Trump is, mainly because he actually wants to be a dictator and also because he has a cult following.

Both party extremes want this but their approach is different. The left uses PC culture which is nothing more than fascism with manners. The right uses force so it’s front and center. 
 

I was concerned with Trump this election when he tweeted out Napoleon Bonaparte…

Edited September 20, 2025 by Castanza

[Spekulatius]

On 9/18/2025 at 11:42 PM, whiskybravo said:

 “This undoubtedly kills IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), the Biden administration's flagship grand strategy to counter China's Belt and Road that was supposed to connect India to Europe via Saudi Arabia.”  On no not that grand strategy!

 

We should probably be pivoting away from global overreach.  Repeating the successful Cold War playbook would be unwise with China and in general in an emerging multipolar world.  China has learned a valuable lesson, which eventually brought the Soviet Union down.  Namely geopolitical influence follows economic strength.  
 

If we pour money into attempting to counter or otherwise “optimize” our influence in every corner of the world, we will actually be increasing our likely downfall.  So don’t be alarmed by these kind of headlines.  A strategic recalibration to Western hemispheric concerns is the play.  
 

We will still engage and trade with the world, but we can’t expect to be globally dominant.

 

P.S.  How’s this for hyperbole:  “I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying that this truly is the US's Suez moment”

The whole near East is going to be nuclear armed by the end of this decade. When reading through the tea leaves it is clear that they see Pakistans nuclear capability as a key components on this deal. My guess is that they are willing to pay for Pakistans nuclear umbrella and likely gain access to Pakistans nuclear technology well.

 

The reason for this is that the Saudis know that the USA isn’t the security guarantor for the arabian peninsula any more. There will never be another large scale US led army assembled to fix issues there like it was done for Gulf war 1  and 2. It is in my opinion likely that Iran is now completing the task to become nuclear armed as well (with help from NK and Russia) and the Saudis need a counter for that.

 

Also, related this, Israels drone strike against Qatar is very little talked about but also a major escalation ans Israel has now violated the territory of another Arabian country. This will have very far reaching repercussions .I think this another of Bibi’s policy mistakes. The above is connected to this as well.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/how-israels-strike-on-doha-is-forcing-a-gulf-security-reckoning/

 

Edited September 20, 2025 by Spekulatius

[73 Reds]

On 9/18/2025 at 9:09 PM, dwy000 said:

Thats exactly how its supposed to work.  You piss people off and they stop using your product. Bud Light, American Eagle, Cracker Barrel, Target, etc.  Thats the power of the consumer.

 

Thats not what's happening here at all.  This is the head of the FCC threatening consequences because his boss has a thin skin and doesnt like being teased.  And he continues to say that networks could have licenses revoked if they insult Trump. This is government censorship straight up.  Its not cancel culture its dictator stuff. 

Speaking of Target, is there a thread for this company (I couldn't find one but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place).  I've been looking at this lately.  Seems like replacing the CEO would be a good start.  

[Gregmal]

Good collection of data from the tabloid!

 

https://nypost.com/2025/09/20/us-news/jimmy-kimmel-hosted-just-one-right-leaning-guest-in-past-four-years-and-it-came-with-a-condition/

 

Man Jimmy Kimmel was the embodiment of TDS, just totally obsessed with Donald Trump, almost all the time, living, breathing, eating, sleeping The Donald, as the ridiculously lopsided numbers show…

 

Whats also interesting is that the left is extremely outraged that their millionaire mouthpiece got “peacefully” cancelled, while being pretty much indifferent to Kirk being murdered. And in a parallel comparison, between the two sides….just compare the reactions and responses to the murders of Charlie Kirk vs George Floyd. 

[John Hjorth]

11 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Russia violating Estonia air space with fighter jets This after drone incursions in Romania and Poland. The Russian jets were in Estonia’s air space for a while, so this was no accident. Estonia is  requesting formal consultation..

I personally think they should just shoot them down if it happens again, because Russia is clearly testing NATO. I am sure the Russian understand “Thou shall not pass” if the fighter jets are gone. 

 

 

Yeah, @Spekulatius,

 

And 'talks' simply doesen't do the trick any longer here among NATO countries.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Meanwhile [,'talks' :] :

 

Republic of Estonia Government - walitsus.ee [September 19^th 2025, 21:09] : Estonian Government to request NATO Article 4 consultations

 

Subtitle : Stenbock House, 19 September 2025 - At today’s security cabinet meeting, the Government of the Republic of Estonia decided, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to request NATO Article 4 consultations following the incursion of three Russian Mig-31 fighter aircrafs into Estonian airspace this morning.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Observation : The three Russian MIG-31s were not at any time during the incursion over Estonian land, only over Estonian waters. A thought related to that : 'Likely difficult [at least cumbersome] to prove where someone took them out of the sky, if not done over land' 

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Edit :

 

Furthermore :

 

Reuters [September 20^th 2025] : Russian jets enter Estonia's airspace in latest test for NATO

 

Summary :

• Estonia reports unprecedented airspace violation by Russian jets
• Incident follows recent Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace
• Estonia wants consultations under NATO's Article 4
• Trump says: 'Could be big trouble'
• Russia denies violation, says jets flew over neutral waters

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Putin does as he see fit - there is nobody there [in Russia] left to deliver push-back, to counter, nor to challenge him [a while since someone fell out of a window, or got poisoned].

 

Only Bill Browder and Mikhail Khodorkovsky outside Russia to be vocal at times.

Edited September 20, 2025 by John Hjorth

[changegonnacome]

3 hours ago, Castanza said:

The left uses PC culture which is nothing more than fascism with manners. The right uses force so it’s front and center. 

Agree. Both shameful digressions….Trump ever the boundary pusher / innovator & leverage finder has opened up the toolbox for the next scumbag Republican or Democratic President that wants to limit speech….WH libel cases, FCC & FTC….luckily Trump is fundamentally an incompetent…. Hopefully both parties are taking notes and at some point in the future the loopholes Trump is exploiting to act so unilaterally at a federal level are closed. A competent Trump like or AOC  figure would be truly dangerous.

 

Trump’s enduring contribution to American democracy will be his shameless drive for expanded executive powers twinned to his complete lack of executive function and competency.   If your country is doomed to end up with a wanna be autocrat in charge then we are very lucky to have the buffoon version we ended up with in the WH. 

[dwy000]

27 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Good collection of data from the tabloid!

 

https://nypost.com/2025/09/20/us-news/jimmy-kimmel-hosted-just-one-right-leaning-guest-in-past-four-years-and-it-came-with-a-condition/

 

Man Jimmy Kimmel was the embodiment of TDS, just totally obsessed with Donald Trump, almost all the time, living, breathing, eating, sleeping The Donald, as the ridiculously lopsided numbers show…

 

Whats also interesting is that the left is extremely outraged that their millionaire mouthpiece got “peacefully” cancelled, while being pretty much indifferent to Kirk being murdered. And in a parallel comparison, between the two sides….just compare the reactions and responses to the murders of Charlie Kirk vs George Floyd. 

Hes playing to his audience!!  Just like almost every host on Fox.  How is this surprising to anyone?  Does it justify government censorship?  No.  This is (supposedly) a free country with freedom of speech.  If you dont like it, dont watch it. 

 

And just about every single Democratic politician and public figure immediately condemned the shooting of Kirk.  Even Jimmy Kimmel! 

 

Why do you continually look to generalize everything into extremism of half the country and sow even more division?  Isn't that what everyone agrees is the problem when we should be able to discuss disagreement of issues?

Edited September 20, 2025 by dwy000

[Spekulatius]

39 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

Yeah, @Spekulatius,

 

And 'talks' simply doesen't do the trick any longer here among NATO countries.

 

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Meanwhile [,'talks' :] :

 

Republic of Estonia Government - walitsus.ee [September 19^th 2025, 21:09] : Estonian Government to request NATO Article 4 consultations

 

Subtitle : Stenbock House, 19 September 2025 - At today’s security cabinet meeting, the Government of the Republic of Estonia decided, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to request NATO Article 4 consultations following the incursion of three Russian Mig-31 fighter aircrafs into Estonian airspace this morning.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Observation : The three Russian MIG-31s were not at any time during the incursion over Estonian land, only over Estonian waters. A thought related to that : 'Likely difficult [at least cumbersome] to prove where someone took them out of the sky, if not done over land' 

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Edit :

 

Furthermore :

 

Reuters [September 20^th 2025] : Russian jets enter Estonia's airspace in latest test for NATO

 

Summary :

• Estonia reports unprecedented airspace violation by Russian jets
• Incident follows recent Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace
• Estonia wants consultations under NATO's Article 4
• Trump says: 'Could be big trouble'
• Russia denies violation, says jets flew over neutral waters

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Putin does as he see fit - there is nobody there [in Russia] left to deliver push-back, to counter, nor to challenge him [a while since someone fell out of a window, or got poisoned].

 

Only Bill Browder and Mikhail Khodorkovsky outside Russia to be vocal at times.

I don’t think most people in the USA or even Europe are aware of how much hybrid warfare Russia is already exerting within NATO territory. There have been reported arsony on weapon storage, Rheinmetall facilities, water poisoning (Bundeswehr  barracks ) , assassinations  and now blatant airspace violations. It s quite easy to make a point that Europe is already at war with Russia and it’s clear that Oui. Is testing the waters here on many different weak points to see how much he can get away with and likely as an covert intimidation.

 

Thats not even counting the political and social media influencing campaigns.

 

This will go on as long as no day is going to tell them “Thou shall not pass”

Edited September 20, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Spekulatius]

H1B got nuked but if you lobby well maybe not.

I got to in the USA through H1B.

[dwy000]

5 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

H1B got nuked but if you lobby well maybe not.

I got to in the USA through H1B.

Driving high end jobs and talent overseas.  How does this make America better?

[73 Reds]

2 hours ago, dwy000 said:

Hes playing to his audience!!  Just like almost every host on Fox.  How is this surprising to anyone?  Does it justify government censorship?  No.  This is (supposedly) a free country with freedom of speech.  If you dont like it, dont watch it. 

 

And just about every single Democratic politician and public figure immediately condemned the shooting of Kirk.  Even Jimmy Kimmel! 

 

Why do you continually look to generalize everything into extremism of half the country and sow even more division?  Isn't that what everyone agrees is the problem when we should be able to discuss disagreement of issues?

I didn't see anyone on the Left crying out for gun control after Kirk's murder.  That pretty much sums up the problem:  When a tragic incident suits a narrative, you hear all about it; otherwise, crickets.  To me, this shows how disingenuous the arguments often are.  Same with the issue surrounding Kimmel; its been perfectly fine for the Left to cancel anyone they disagree with but when one of theirs gets cancelled it becomes a constitutional crisis.  Those of us who see the irony of it all just shrug and turn away.

Edited September 20, 2025 by 73 Reds
words

[changegonnacome]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

H1B got nuked but if you lobby well maybe not.

 

Yep everywhere you look policy is being slowly replaced by patronage......its boomtime for K Street and its looks to me like the GOP's new political 'business model'....you can just see the political donations & PACs being formed from tariff protected industries, special export licenses granted from the oval, tariff import exemptions, visa fees waived for special companies the President deems 'good'. 

[Gregmal]

39 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

I didn't see anyone on the Left crying out for gun control after Kirk's murder.  That pretty much sums up the problem:  When a tragic incident suits a narrative, you hear all about it; otherwise, crickets.  To me, this shows how disingenuous the arguments often are.  Same with the issue surrounding Kimmel; its been perfectly fine for the Left to cancel anyone they disagree with but when one of theirs gets cancelled it becomes a constitutional crisis.  Those of us who see the irony of it all just shrug and turn away.

Yup. So the whining about “the constitution” is basically summed up as…you didn’t care about our rights, so now we don’t give a fuck about yours….its like playing the first inning of a baseball game and the home team pitcher drills 2-3 of your batters on purpose in the top of the inning and then they want to call a truce or cancel the game before the bottom of the inning….sorry, you’re just gonna have to take it now. You earned it, enjoy it. 

[RichardGibbons]

6 hours ago, thowed said:

I find this direction of censorship very concerning - I'm not saying it WILL happen - but if you look at history, ignoring this sort of stuff is usually how societies sleepwalk into becoming the sort of autocracies or banana republics that the US has always viewed as the enemy.

 

100%.

 

On top of that, the thing I find quite concerning is that otherwise pretty smart people on here largely seem to view it as a game. Like, as long as their side is burning the other side, it's a good thing. They basically don't care about their democracy, or see how the great system they have now is being destroyed. Or maybe they just think that their side is the one that's "winning", so losing democracy doesn't actually matter.

 

But I think the world is more chaotic than that. Things can change quickly, and things can quickly and unpredictably flip, and then the authoritarian powers that were created by one group can be brought to bear against that same group.

[73 Reds]

6 minutes ago, RichardGibbons said:

 

100%.

 

On top of that, the thing I find quite concerning is that otherwise pretty smart people on here largely seem to view it as a game. Like, as long as their side is burning the other side, it's a good thing. They basically don't care about their democracy, or see how the great system they have now is being destroyed. Or maybe they just think that their side is the one that's "winning", so losing democracy doesn't actually matter.

 

But I think the world is more chaotic than that. Things can change quickly, and things can quickly and unpredictably flip, and then the authoritarian powers that were created by one group can be brought to bear against that same group.

The beauty of the "system" is when one side tries to take things too far, the opposition fights back by way of votes and common sense.  The opposition always claims that the system is in danger when they are the ones fighting back.  

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, 73 Reds said:

I didn't see anyone on the Left crying out for gun control after Kirk's murder.  That pretty much sums up the problem:  When a tragic incident suits a narrative, you hear all about it; otherwise, crickets.  To me, this shows how disingenuous the arguments often are.  Same with the issue surrounding Kimmel; its been perfectly fine for the Left to cancel anyone they disagree with but when one of theirs gets cancelled it becomes a constitutional crisis.  Those of us who see the irony of it all just shrug and turn away.

Actually a lot of people have been talking about gun control in this context. Privately and publicity.

 

I also am not aware that Biden threatened to pull FCC license from Fox or other media outlets for misinformation.

Edited September 20, 2025 by Spekulatius

[dwy000]

1 hour ago, 73 Reds said:

I didn't see anyone on the Left crying out for gun control after Kirk's murder.  That pretty much sums up the problem:  When a tragic incident suits a narrative, you hear all about it; otherwise, crickets.  To me, this shows how disingenuous the arguments often are.  Same with the issue surrounding Kimmel; its been perfectly fine for the Left to cancel anyone they disagree with but when one of theirs gets cancelled it becomes a constitutional crisis.  Those of us who see the irony of it all just shrug and turn away.

Its hard (disrespectful?) to scream gun control when the person shot was a huge proponent of guns.  Heard it quite a bit about the school shooting on the same day. 

 

As stated multiple times the issue with Kimmel wasnt public cancelation. If that was the reaction, great, go for it. This was govenment censorship. Huge difference.