Blake Hampton Posted May 1 Posted May 1 Also: "In 2010, Iran said it would begin enriching uranium up to 20 percent — ostensibly to make fuel for a research reactor. This level is the official dividing line between civilian and military uses. In 2015, Iran and six nations led by the United States reached an accord that limited the purity of its enriched uranium to 3.67 percent and the size of its stockpile for 15 years. Under the deal, Tehran shipped 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium, or 12.5 tons, and restricted the size of its stockpile to under 660 pounds."
RichardGibbons Posted May 1 Posted May 1 2 hours ago, Parsad said: But you have to remember that the politically correct narrative came from a time when it wasn't just naivety but straight forward racist/bigoted behavior against minorities. Or adoption of culture that doesn't belong to you...Rachel Dolowhatever...Vanilla Ice...etc. Cultures don't belong to anyone. Disrespecting a culture makes you an asshole, but we all benefit when cultures mix and synthesize. It's a good thing when an Indian opens a hamburger stand or her kid dresses up as Spider Man.
Blake Hampton Posted May 1 Posted May 1 I actually just got married a couple of weeks ago. On the day before my wedding, I sat at a table on my back porch and shared some beer with three of my boomer relatives: my uncle, my dad, and my fiancé's dad. I love them all to death of course and think they're all quite smart, and all three of them support Trump. We sat out there for a few hours and debated politics and some finance/economics. It was respectful and overall a good and insightful experience. Some of the stuff they believe I think is quite crazy. I even got my uncle to say at one point that America should simply "kill them all" when it came to Iran. I also think he is probably the smartest of the bunch. He was an executive-level engineer at GM. My fiancé's dad was an operations manager at Goodyear. People on both sides of the political divide see the world so differently than one another. I think this is dangerous. I also personally think Republicans lost their grip on reality a while ago, but Democrats seem to me to be quickly bridging the gap. @dealraker once made the point that I'll likely be even less impressed with our next leader following Trump, that is if he doesn't decide to be our forever leader lol. Deal may very well be right. Maybe some of the worst things Trump is currently doing are the ones surrounding precedent. Maybe we have even worse things in store from someone anew building on top of what Trump has already done.
cwericb Posted May 1 Posted May 1 3 hours ago, cubsfan said: This country provides the greatest opportunity in the world for immigrants. That is a pretty bold statement. Perhaps, but Canada does not have armed, masked thugs roaming the streets randomly challenging immigrants status. .........and...... "Canada provides a more accessible immigration system, universal healthcare, and a stronger social safety net" "Canada has a much higher rate of immigration per capita than the US, with foreigners making up about 23% of its population compared to 14% in the US." "Immigration Volume: Canada's annual immigration intake is proportionately about four times higher than that of the US."
Blake Hampton Posted May 1 Posted May 1 All I know is that logic, data, and math have been thrown out the window by a large share of our population. This is also dangerous. We are living through an epistemic crisis.
73 Reds Posted May 1 Posted May 1 2 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said: I actually just got married a couple of weeks ago. On the day before my wedding, I sat at a table on my back porch and shared some beer with three of my boomer relatives: my uncle, my dad, and my fiancé's dad. I love them all to death of course and think they're all quite smart, and all three of them support Trump. We sat out there for a few hours and debated politics and some finance/economics. It was respectful and overall a good and insightful experience. Some of the stuff they believe I think is quite crazy. I even got my uncle to say at one point that America should simply "kill them all" when it came to Iran. I also think he is probably the smartest of the bunch. He was an executive-level engineer at GM. My fiancé's dad was an operations manager at Goodyear. People on both sides of the political divide see the world so differently than one another. I think this is dangerous. I also personally think Republicans lost their grip on reality a while ago, but Democrats seem to me to be quickly bridging the gap. @dealraker once made the point that I'll likely be even less impressed with our next leader following Trump, that is if he doesn't decide to be our forever leader lol. Deal may very well be right. Maybe some of the worst things Trump is currently doing are the ones surrounding precedent. Maybe we have even worse things in store from someone anew building on top of what Trump has already done. Congrats on your wedding and marriage. Regarding the way people view the World, shared morals and values are far more important than politics. Which is why many spouses with opposing political views have great marriages and wonderful families. It is folks that allow politics to interfere with their lives who seem to be the most volatile, unstable and yes, unhappy people.
cwericb Posted May 1 Posted May 1 3 hours ago, Parsad said: He won't even have control after the mid-terms, how is he going to swing a 3rd term? Now if he had control of everything...I wouldn't put it past him to try and push through changes to the Constitution! Unlike you, I'm freely willing to admit what this guy is capable of. His moral compass is so off center that he's just a stable lying sociopath...so you guys have no trouble supporting him! I don't! I like certain outcomes of his Presidency, but I think he's setting dangerous precedents that are a danger to the entire system. Homeruns and strikes...he knows nothing about base hits! Cheers! Agree. But let me rephrase that: "he's just a stable lying narcissistic sociopath". If I go back to my university Abnormal Psych texts, I could add a few other descriptive adjectives.
cubsfan Posted May 1 Posted May 1 56 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said: NYT: How Iran Accumulated 11 Tons of Enriched Uranium "Iran lacked a single bomb’s worth of uranium in 2018, when Mr. Trump withdrew the United States from the pact and reimposed a series of tough economic sanctions. Then Iran began to enrich above the deal’s limit, first at low enrichment levels to pressure the West and then up to 20 percent in early 2021, just before Mr. Trump left office. The Biden administration tried, unsuccessfully, to restore aspects of the abandoned deal. Throughout the negotiations, Iran enriched uranium to an unprecedented level of up to 60 percent — a hairsbreadth away from the preferred grade for atom bombs. With Mr. Trump again in office in 2025, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium grew at the fastest rate since the International Atomic Energy Agency started reporting." That's rich Blake. Did the Trump hating NYT also say that Trump caused the October 7th massacre? After a totally broke Iran, given billions by Obama, gave their 3 proxies, Iranian missiles and armaments for a simultaneous attack on Israel? How all the IRGC Quds Force members were caught training Hezbollah in Lebanon before Israel killed them? Yemen too? Did they blame that on Trump too??
Parsad Posted May 1 Posted May 1 56 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said: I actually just got married a couple of weeks ago. On the day before my wedding, I sat at a table on my back porch and shared some beer with three of my boomer relatives: my uncle, my dad, and my fiancé's dad. I love them all to death of course and think they're all quite smart, and all three of them support Trump. We sat out there for a few hours and debated politics and some finance/economics. It was respectful and overall a good and insightful experience. Some of the stuff they believe I think is quite crazy. I even got my uncle to say at one point that America should simply "kill them all" when it came to Iran. I also think he is probably the smartest of the bunch. He was an executive-level engineer at GM. My fiancé's dad was an operations manager at Goodyear. People on both sides of the political divide see the world so differently than one another. I think this is dangerous. I also personally think Republicans lost their grip on reality a while ago, but Democrats seem to me to be quickly bridging the gap. @dealraker once made the point that I'll likely be even less impressed with our next leader following Trump, that is if he doesn't decide to be our forever leader lol. Deal may very well be right. Maybe some of the worst things Trump is currently doing are the ones surrounding precedent. Maybe we have even worse things in store from someone anew building on top of what Trump has already done. Blake, that's one of the most cogent things you've written lately! I can't stand Trump, but at the same time, things aren't quite as black and white as people make them out to be...whether it's the right or left. I have plenty of family on both sides as well...and it seems to be pretty common amongst most families these days! As you stated, are things going to be better or worse...no matter who is in charge in the upcoming elections? Hard to figure out these days. Cheers!
LC Posted May 2 Posted May 2 The fact that we are not supporting these guys is absolute bullshit. Hell, they're more American than we are. Absolutely badass.
Spekulatius Posted May 2 Posted May 2 3 hours ago, LC said: The fact that we are not supporting these guys is absolute bullshit. Hell, they're more American than we are. Absolutely badass. This is looks fake like a video game. Likely AI generated nowadays.
LC Posted May 2 Posted May 2 Apparently it's legit, although you are right that AI is getting more and more realistic: https://www.wsj.com/world/ukraine-russia-drone-hunting-e2fea5fc?eafs\_enabled=false https://www.twz.com/air/this-is-how-ukrainian-yak-52-crews-hunt-russian-drones https://theaviationist.com/2026/03/26/geran-drone-shot-down-by-ukrainian-yak-52/
John Hjorth Posted May 2 Posted May 2 11 hours ago, Parsad said: Blake, that's one of the most cogent things you've written lately! ... I concur! - +1. 12 hours ago, Blake Hampton said: I actually just got married a couple of weeks ago. On the day before my wedding, ... Congratulations!, Blake [ @Blake Hampton ]!
cubsfan Posted May 2 Posted May 2 21 hours ago, cubsfan said: I can't argue with that! Reds point is the issue - are we close to civil war? Certainly civil unrest has taken over and violence is perfectly ok. When many citizens figure out that socialism was the goal - they took back the country. It remains to be seen where we end up. With socialist centers like CA, NY,MN and ILL - many are going to end up in FL, TX, TN - and the great social experiment will continue. These people are nuts and they're coming for you. demonstrators denounced capitalism and pushed for the seizure of private property and the means of production, marking a shift in tone from past May Day rallies that primarily focused on labor issues. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/communist-socialist-groups-call-revolution-seizure-property-minneapolis-may-day-rally
Blake Hampton Posted May 2 Posted May 2 27 minutes ago, cubsfan said: These people are nuts and they're coming for you. demonstrators denounced capitalism and pushed for the seizure of private property and the means of production, marking a shift in tone from past May Day rallies that primarily focused on labor issues. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/communist-socialist-groups-call-revolution-seizure-property-minneapolis-may-day-rally I'm sure that rising prices and safety net cuts will alleviate their concerns.
cubsfan Posted May 2 Posted May 2 1 hour ago, Blake Hampton said: I'm sure that rising prices and safety net cuts will alleviate their concerns. Most of them don't work, so might as well steal it from someone else. It's the Commie way.
Blake Hampton Posted May 2 Posted May 2 42 minutes ago, cubsfan said: Most of them don't work, so might as well steal it from someone else. It's the Commie way. On this, like many of the other points you try and make, you are wrong. This behavior is not being driven by a mass avoidance of working. It's being driven by a sense of enormous inequality and how systems that define our lives (education, real estate, healthcare, labor markets) are increasingly broken. The young right now are facing hardships that many older people fail to understand. I hear their arguments all the time, and many of them make very little logical sense.
Blake Hampton Posted May 2 Posted May 2 Failure to understand or try and fix these hardships is exactly what's driving this sort of behavior. If we continue down this path, which it's overwhelmingly likely that we will, the drumbeat of socialism and anti-capitalist thinking will only increase. The solution of course is clear. But it's funny because politics tends to get in the way of things like that, simple solutions. It's also funny because those who decry these trends are exactly the same people who support many of the policies creating them. In politics, it seems, irony is a bitch.
73 Reds Posted May 2 Posted May 2 11 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said: On this, like many of the other points you try and make, you are wrong. This behavior is not being driven by a mass avoidance of working. It's being driven by a sense of enormous inequality and how systems that define our lives (education, real estate, healthcare, labor markets) are increasingly broken. The young right now are facing hardships that many older people fail to understand. I hear their arguments all the time, and many of them make very little logical sense. Blake, as a former young person and now as an older person, you don't know what you're talking about, probably because you lack perspective and experience. The fact is, young people today have FAR MORE opportunities for success than anyone from my generation. There has always been inequality in this Country and that will not change because there are many factors that contribute to inequality that cannot be adequately addressed by government with the stroke of a pen. However, a focus on education, family, success and morality largely negates the negative effects of inequality for most people. It is easy to make excuses; people who do rarely succeed. Those who accept reality and decide to go to work and make something of themselves don't worry about "inequality".
cubsfan Posted May 2 Posted May 2 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said: Failure to understand or try and fix these hardships is exactly what's driving this sort of behavior. If we continue down this path, which it's overwhelmingly likely that we will, the drumbeat of socialism and anti-capitalist thinking will only increase. The solution of course is clear. But it's funny because politics tends to get in the way of things like that, simple solutions. It's also funny because those who decry these trends are exactly the same people who support many of the policies creating them. In politics, it seems, irony is a bitch. Yeah, it's too bad that our educational system has gone haywire and ruined so many young people. So much of college is a total waste of time - given the enormous political indoctrination of socialism. I feel for the young these days. But I graduated during recessionary times in the late 70's/early 80's. We had nothing, and worked our asses off to make ends meet - we didn't go out and waste our time protesting, when you could just get a second job and earn some money for a vacation or used car, instead of bitching and complaining. The right politics, of course, helped tremendously to solve this problem - when Ronald Reagan was elected and after a rough start, the economy took off like a scalded dog - and those that kept their nose to the grindstone, for years, advanced quickly into very good times. Something is quite lost among today's young - where they expect everything to be rosy - that tough times don't exist, that test your character and force you to dig deep to succeed. Way too many participation trophies and complaining. It's almost like today's young think they are the only ones that have had to endure tough times. I should tell you the endless stories my father talks about going through the depression that lasted for years. My father ALWAYS worked a second job or had some kind of side business going - and with 5 kids to feed - he eventually became a raging success beyond his wildest dreams when he was 45 years old. But up until then he had basically no savings. I NEVER heard him bitch ONCE about it being the fault of "the system". Get a grip already. A return to traditional American values will do wonders for the soul and success. Thank God we got rid of Biden. Edited May 2 by cubsfan
Blake Hampton Posted May 2 Posted May 2 1 minute ago, 73 Reds said: Blake, as a former young person and now as an older person, you don't know what you're talking about, probably because you lack perspective and experience. The fact is, young people today have FAR MORE opportunities for success than anyone from my generation. There has always been inequality in this Country and that will not change because there are many factors that contribute to inequality that cannot be adequately addressed by government with the stroke of a pen. However, a focus on education, family, success and morality largely negates the negative effects of inequality for most people. It is easy to make excuses; people who do rarely succeed. Those who accept reality and decide to go to work and make something of themselves don't worry about "inequality". Work where exactly? Walmart, McDonalds? Aren't those jobs where we "shouldn't raise the minimum wage" because "only high schoolers work them?" Do they go to work in manufacturing? Isn't a core tenant of your savior's policy to reshore jobs, which I'll add he hasn't done, because other countries are "taking advantage of us?" Our troubles surrounding current account are largely not Trump's fault. But he's certainly not doing anything today to properly fix them. For him, it's simply too difficult politically. And before you try and say it, his mish-mash, brazenly stupid tariff policy has done nothing here. The only thing that has accomplished is cause business and geopolitical chaos, Trump's specialty.
Blake Hampton Posted May 2 Posted May 2 I don't think blaming your life's woes on systemic problems is a winning strategy. But you still have to account for these things when trying to understand the world. You can't simply blame swathes of people for failing when the system itself they're working in has largely failed them.
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