Political Posts

[Gregmal]

Blakes just mad he fell for the oil bros propaganda 

[Spekulatius]

6 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

Trump - where men are men

 

 

Gayest event ever. Lots of half naked men. Too bad Trump didn’t take his shirt off.

[dwy000]

If the deal was digitally signed on Sunday why are they waiting until Friday to release the details?  And if they're sending JD Vance out there to fluff the media in advance without providing details, it really doesnt bode well. 

[cubsfan]

2 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Gayest event ever. Lots of half naked men. Too bad Trump didn’t take his shirt off.

 

Ah the jealousy begins - we'll be sure and bring back the Biden trannies just for you next year.

[Blake Hampton]

Hmmm... let me meet somewhere in the middle with the Trump bunch. I personally don't like Platner and think it's kind of crazy that the Democrats are championing someone who had a totenkopf tattoo and espouses antisemitic content.
 

Now then, is it crazy that I also don't approve of having a felon as our president? How about not supporting a man who instigated his followers into storming the U.S. Capitol building? Am I crazy for thinking that Trump blowing out budget deficits isn't good for the long-term health of our economy?

Here I go trying to bang my head against the wall again.

[Blake Hampton]

28 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Blakes just mad he fell for the oil bros propaganda 

Can I please see this propaganda?

[Blake Hampton]

In Trump world, any level of taxation is basically socialism at the same time that spending $10 trillion on defense is essential and "You better not touch my Social Security money."

[Blake Hampton]

23 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Ah the jealousy begins - we'll be sure and bring back the Biden trannies just for you next year.

 

Why are all you Trumpies so ferociously obsessed with trans people? I feel like I could count on two hands how many I've seen in my entire life.
 

I'm starting to realize that much of human behavior is actually inverse to itself: extreme arrogance masking insecurity, anger veiling fear, that sort of thing.
 

Why then are some of you so fixated on trans people? Is there something you would like to share with the class @cubsfan?

[73 Reds]

52 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

If the deal was digitally signed on Sunday why are they waiting until Friday to release the details?  And if they're sending JD Vance out there to fluff the media in advance without providing details, it really doesnt bode well. 

Yeah, was kind of thinking the same thing.  

[cubsfan]

28 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

Is there something you would like to share with the class @cubsfan?

 

Sure thing @Blake - do you approve of topless trannies running around the White House lawn?

 

Is that dignified enough for you?

 

 

[cubsfan]

9 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Yeah, was kind of thinking the same thing.  

 

Make it 3

[DooDiligence]

Grand

Old

Perverts

 

Bunch of rapists and closet cases.

[changegonnacome]

Lots of folks rushing to dance on Trump's deal here.....obviously IMO i think it was foolish to do what he did re: attacking Iran in the first place and things will have to be conceded at the negotiating table here because whatever way you slice it Iran has cards and leverage it can trade.....but if you take that out of the mix here I will say one thing I'm not sure many of our recent President's having got themselves into a mess like this would have the gumption to steam roll the neocons in their own party, ignore the naysayers from the left all while Israel/Bibi/AIPAC launched a relentless campaign to scupper and talk down the deal and Trump via sheer force of personality is steamrolling them all into it here whether they like it or not......as I said lesser Presidents would have doubled/tripled down by now in Middle East hoping to please the usual D.C. stakeholders and Trump is telling them to go sing.

[Blake Hampton]

Munger: "I think Berkshire is sort of a temple of rationality. What's really admired around Berkshire is somebody who sees it the way it is. Wouldn't you agree with that Warren? More than anything, more than energy, more than..."

Buffett: "You better see it the way it is."

[Blake Hampton]

3 minutes ago, changegonnacome said:

Lots of folks rushing to dance on Trump's deal here.....obviously IMO i think it was foolish to do what he did re: attacking Iran in the first place and things will have to be conceded at the negotiating table here because whatever way you slice it Iran has cards and leverage it can trade.....but if you take that out of the mix here I will say one thing I'm not sure many of our recent President's having got themselves into a mess like this would have the gumption to steam roll the neocons in their own party, ignore the naysayers from the left all while Israel/Bibi/AIPAC launched a relentless campaign to scupper and talk down the deal and Trump via sheer force of personality is steamrolling them all into it here whether they like it or not......as I said lesser Presidents would have doubled/tripled down by now in Middle East hoping to please the usual D.C. stakeholders and Trump is telling them to go sing.

 

Steps of success according to Trump:

Step 1: Create an unnecessary problem that has the potential to cause chaos
Step 2: Work yourself to the brink of said chaos, terrifying the entire world in the process

Step 3: TACO right before chaos is unleashed
Step 4: Announce complete and total victory while rejoicing in the fanfare of your brainless supporters
Step 5: Repeat

[Blake Hampton]

One of these times, he ain't gonna be able to get out.

 

And we'll all be standing there right beside him.

[RichardGibbons]

48 minutes ago, changegonnacome said:

obviously IMO i think it was foolish to do what he did re: attacking Iran in the first place

 

I'm curious why you say this.  At the time there were large protests against the regime, and the regime there is bad for both the Iranian people and the rest of the world.

 

To my way of thinking at the time, there was maybe a 50% chance of the Iranian people enacting their own regime change, and it was also unclear if Iran could potentially close the strait against the USA's military might. And, it distracted Trump, preventing him from attacking his allies.  So to me, it looked like a reasonable bet at the time.

 

What, at the time, made you think that it was an obvious foolish thing to do?  Did you just have a different estimate of the probability of positive regime change, or were more confident than me about Iran's ability to control the strait?

[changegonnacome]

24 minutes ago, RichardGibbons said:

I'm curious why you say this.  At the time there were large protests against the regime

I think the fragility of the Iranian regime thesis that was out there turned out to be more Israeli propaganda than reality. Something that JD Vance, Rubio & the Director of the CIA told Trump prior to Epic Fury….i believe the word used by Trump’s senior most advisors on that idea was “bullshit”.

 

At the time I remember being somewhat in your camp assuming that Trump must have been told by his own intelligence agencies that the regime was at a tipping point and just needed a nudge….in that world I had a “worth a shot” opinion too….the subsequent reporting however on the decision timeline for Epic Fury shows the lack of credible US intelligence, only overblown self serving Israeli Iran fragility stories, Bibi’s pitch book and a receptive President interested in glory hunting versus managing risk/reward.

 

In short the judgement of Epic Fury as an ill advised boondoggle is not some after the fact exercise….there is extensive evidence now that prior to Epic Fury the President was ably advised about how ill advised it was and how likely to fail it was!

[ourkid8]

6 hours ago, Gregmal said:

You do realize, that probably the majority of Americans and even the world, would be happy to shower Iran with economic growth and welcome to the 21st century incentives if they’d just stop the state sponsored terrorism stuff, right?

 

You’re a smart guy whose opinions I respect, so let’s think this through. Why does Iran support these ‘resistance’ groups in the first place? They’re aimed at one specific country that has repeatedly attacked its neighbours, occupies and settles disputed territory (West Bank, Golan, etc.), and has been involved in or supported actions that led to hundreds of thousands or even a million + deaths in the region over decades (Iraq war influence, Gaza operations, Lebanon conflicts, Syria strikes) and have tried to derail every peace conversation. 

 

If that country stopped the occupations and military campaigns many in the region see as aggressive, Iran might not feel the need to fund freedom / resistance fighters. Prosperity and 21st-century integration sound great, but it’s hard to trust incentives when one side keeps expanding settlements and killing innocent individuals like they are playing call of duty. Why not maybe address the root occupation issue first? 

Edited 14 minutes ago by ourkid8

[Gregmal]

1 minute ago, ourkid8 said:

 

You’re a smart guy whose opinions I respect, so let’s think this through. Why does Iran support these ‘resistance’ groups in the first place? They’re aimed at one specific country that has repeatedly attacked its neighbours, occupies and settles disputed territory (West Bank, Golan, etc.), and has been involved in or supported actions that led to hundreds of thousands or even a million + of deaths in the region over decades (Iraq war influence, Gaza operations, Lebanon conflicts, Syria strikes).

 

If that country stopped the occupations and military campaigns many in the region see as aggressive, Iran might not feel the need to fund proxies. Prosperity and 21st-century integration sound great, but it’s hard to trust incentives when one side keeps expanding settlements and killing innocent individuals like they are playing call of duty. Why not maybe address the root occupation issue first?

Sure, but the US needs wars to keep money moving and people distracted. 

[Blake Hampton]

The following chart is from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. This survey is used to create the basket for measuring CPI, which is interesting:

Look at what comes in dead last as a share of household expenditures: reading. The average household spends six times more on tobacco products and alcohol than on reading. Nothing better in my mind explains the advent of Trump.