Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Whitley]

I refuse to lay off my newly legalized stash. I have a card that says I can use it.

Why do you hate weed?


ps... i don't really smoke weed and I don't have a med card.. but i needed a snarky response for someone that deserves it ...

No one is coming form your 2nd Amendment. Despite what right wingers are clutching their pearls about.

Last I checked, white men still hold oodles of power.

No one is discriminating against Christians in this country.


A Biden administration is going to be very corporate friendly. Hell,they are not going to give progressives a damn thing unless they fight for it. Sen Harris is not a progressive. She and VP Biden are centrists. Hell, Biden thinks Mayor Pete types are the future of the Dem party.

[iam416]

Just catching up on some news and almost the entire city of Medford, Oregon was forced to evacuate last night because of an out-of-control wildfire. That's a city of 82,000. Good Lord.

Goddamn patriarchy strikes again.

[lineygoblue]

No one is coming form your 2nd Amendment. Despite what right wingers are clutching their pearls about.

Last I checked, white men still hold oodles of power.

No one is discriminating against Christians in this country.


A Biden administration is going to be very corporate friendly. Hell,they are not going to give progressives a damn thing unless they fight for it. Sen Harris is not a progressive. She and VP Biden are centrists. Hell, Biden thinks Mayor Pete types are the future of the Dem party.

I'm not concerned about the overall status of the 2nd Amendment because it takes 38 states to approve changes to the Constitution. I think we still have more than 13 states who would vote in favor of keeping the 2nd, so I agree its safe. The concern is how a liberal USSC is going to rule on what kinds of weapons us regular folks are allowed to have. I doubt that the founding fathers wanted to restrict the citizenry to blunderbusses for shooting turkeys and rabbits. They wanted the citizens to be armed so that a future belligerent and tyrannical government would not use arms against the liberties of the people. Liberty being the key word.

White men like Joe have nothing to worry about, as long as they pander to the special interests of the liberal elite. The rest of us are on the list.

You aren't paying attention if you think Christians are not being discriminated against in this country.

You are right about Kamala not being a progressive. She is a radical left, along with "The Squad". There's not a "progressive" bone in her body. If you believe anything else, you haven't been listening to her.

Biden is a "centrist" because he thinks that will get him elected. Bill the Cat could be elected this cycle if he was a true "centrist". Joe Biden is a leftist liberal. He's never been anything else. He will probably be elected because Trump keeps running like he doesn't want to win. And then Kamala will take over in 12-18 months, and the real fun begins. If you think Trump is bad, wait until Kamala gets in the Oval Office, and brings in Michele Obama as her VP. You ain't seen nothin' yet, bub.

[Ghengis Jon]

Oh Liney, sometimes you're so precious.

As a white libertarian that can be conservative or liberal depending upon topic, what exactly do I have to fear from Biden? I see him kind of as milktoast, which is actually reassuring when compared to incompetent dictator wannabe/cult leader Trump. Other than Vichy Republicans (the enablers and collaborators of a mentally ill dictator), who thinks Biden is radical? The progressive wing and the radical wing of the Democratic Party have all but labeled Biden as a Republican. Particularly for his pro business stances.

I am paying attention, and as a white Christian, I see no (organized) discrimination against the religion. Sure there are people who bomb or shoot up synagogues, black churches and mosques, but those are Trumpsters, not the average church goer. Joe Biden is a devout Catholic. By all accounts, he has used his religion to pull himself through personal tragedies I would not wish on anyone. So where does this POV come from? Is it the same charge the GOP laid against Kennedy that Catholics aren't real Christians and he would put the Pope above the nation? You wouldn't want a devout person in the White House over a non-church attending agnostic who uses tear gas and federales to desecrate churches for photo ops? Trump did not find religion in 2015, he found votes. Or rather soft minded voters that believed his paranoid hate ravings. Trump worships money, Biden worships God. I see clarity in those two differences.

Kamala? I have not found the motivation to do the homework. It doesn't matter to me, so long as Trump gets voted out. Nothing or no one could be possibly worse than Trump. Ever. He is America's Judas. That's why there are AOC types in Congress. A knee jerk political reaction to the likes of Trump. When one dumb fuck gets elected, voters elect other dumb fucks to balance things out.

Here's a novel concept: Lets pick the better of two goods! Wait, that will never happen. Its mostly the extreme partisan hacks that vote in the primaries. Rational candidates have no chance.

[iam416]

I think it's so precious that someone thinks the Progressive-Socialist movement is some sort of knee-jerk reaction. I guess in a world where you literally -- and I do mean literally -- blame everything on PDJT that's the only way to get there. But, it is truly as ignorant as it is precious.

[Mike]

I think classifying Joe Biden as a "leftist liberal, he's never been anything else" is pure hyperbole but the criticism of Harris is much more accurate than I thought.

Found these scatter plots that chart ideology based on a senator's sponsored bills and their leadership score. Here's Biden's:

Biden snip.PNG

As you can see, he's smack dab in the middle of the D group and near the top in leadership. This is based on his last term in the Senate from 2003 to 2008.

Here's Harris from the present term:

Harris snip.PNG
It's also a good visual representation of the polarization that has taken place in this time frame. Harris is clearly on the far left of a much more ideologically pure D party. Biden was in the middle of a more ideologically diverse party.

My plan is to vote for Biden, then all Rs down ticket. Step 1: Remove the cancer. Step 2: Heal the patient.

Here's the link if you want to play around with the charts. You can hover over each dot to find out who it is.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/mem...h_biden/300008

[iam416]

My concern certainly isn't about Biden. My concern is whether he has the nerve to stand up to his massive left flank.

Harris was an awful candidate in the D Primary. I think she's pretty much garbage now.

In any event, we'll know soon enough. The Ds will control everything in a few months.

[Jeff Buchanan]

This popped up in my news feeds this morning. I'm more or less neutral on Slate. It has both good and just awful articles. This one is good.

It's a summation of the "science" of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 as it was reported in various research papers. The author points out that a single paper is a terrible source of scientifically well grounded information yet, these single research papers with headline making claims got broad media coverage. More often than not they were characterized as the final word on whatever crap they were putting out there. If you choose to read this article, you'll recall, and probably chuckle, at the conclusions reported to you as fact, subsequently debunked and after that, believers would provide all kinds of "proof" alleging the initial claim was valid. You'll especially remember Hydroxychloroquine.

Like some here, it took me a couple of months to doubt what I was being told by those that I would normally characterize as experts. About the same time I became highly skeptical of the data and metrics being relied upon to formulate PH policy. As well, I stopped paying attention to shocking news and new discoveries coming from otherwise respected medical and scientific journals.

Some things that I'm reasonably certain about validated science (large scale, appropriately designed scientific studies that are rigorously peer reviewed):

• SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory virus that is transmitted by airborne means.
• Transmission from touching surfaces contaminated with the virus is theoretically possible (your fingers not air become the fomites), that is not a primary mode of transmission.
• Hand washing/not touching your face is one way to mitigate risks of viruses/bacteria, but, its not as important as mitigating transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by masking/distancing.
• Individual risk of infection and development of C-19 from SARS-CoV-2 is dependent on four things:
• Proximity to an infected person (generally believed to be inside 6 feet or 2 meters)
• Time in proximity (generally believed to be > 15 minutes)
• The number of virions present in airborne droplets expelled by an infected person by talking, sneezing or coughing.
• The innate and adaptive immune system's response to the virus.

Mitigation measures not based on the strong evidence supporting how SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted are unnecessary .... and I'll let you decide which ones those are and there are plenty of them.

Here's a great quote that starts the Slate article.

To borrow a quote from the French novelist Victor Hugo (and the title of a science blog), “Science says the first word on everything, and the last word on nothing.”

https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/coronavirus-research-so-far.html

[Mike]

I don’t think they’ll take the Senate. If Peters doesn’t hold his seat from Michigan, there’s virtually no shot. His race is tightening, 44-41, which means there’s a lot of votes up for grabs.

[Dr. Strangelove]

"Kim Jong Un is in good health. Never underestimate him!" -- Donald J. Trump, 9/10/2020

Sometimes his random-ass tweets still have the power to make me laugh

[Hannibal]

Biden seems very much ideologically similar to Bill Clinton. A more palatable candidate were this a different time. But now he's an empty suit, and so is Harris. The leaders of the Democrat party are AOC, Ilhan Omar, BLM, Bernie Sanders, and Antifa. If you vote for BIden, you are voting for those folks. Period.

[Hannibal]

[lineygoblue]

So much to respond to... I'll try to give my Reader's Digest version so here goes...

I don't think I've ever raved on Trump as a "great Christian". I've seen thru his pandering to evangelicals ever since the primaries. I didn't vote for Trump because of his religious beliefs. I voted for him because he was not Hillary, who was openly belligerent toward people who believe like I do, both politically and spiritually. When someone calls me, and people like me "deplorable", they aren't asking for my vote. Silly me for not voting for her, huh? At least Trump is actually putting his words to action in his USSC nominations, his relationship to Israel, and even his economic policy of reducing taxes for everyone. I still can't fathom why a tax cut for everyone is so evil. Maybe I'm too precious to understand these things.

If Mr Biden is a devout Catholic, then he has some repentance to perform (or is that penance in Catholic circles?). Politically, he is totally out of step with his faith when it comes to abortion, gay marriage, and even his stance toward Israel. He has been refused communion by the Catholic church for his politics. All of the Kennedys did the same thing. He may have a nice liberal priest near where he lives that still gives him communion, but according to the dogma of his church, he's out of fellowship. In my opinion, Joe Biden is a Catholic UNTIL it conflicts with his politics. Then, he is a Liberal Democrat first, THEN a Catholic. Its supposed to be the other way around. Or, that's how it appears to me in the Bible that we both read. I agree he's a bit of a milquetoast on other issues, but alas, Joe isn't going to be President very long once he wins. Kamala will be taking over before he reaches the half way point. She's a hard, leftist, liberal. There's no other way to characterize her. There is persecution against Christians in Kamala's home state, and she's not said one stinking word against it. Not one. Probably because they are WHITE Christians. If that kind of persecution was taking place against a black Christian church, she'd be outside the door with a bullhorn, raging against the governor or anyone else in her sights.

I'm very concerned about a Biden win. Right at the end of the Biden/Obama/Kerry administration, they were about to isolate Israel more than any US presidential administration in history. Trump comes along, immediately reaches out to Israel, moves the embassy to Jerusalem where it belongs, and in spite of the howling and squealing from the left, Israel is making progress toward peace with its Arab neighbors. Yeah, the "palestinians" are still griping, but that's all they ever do. The best example of a "palestinan" state exists NOW in Gaza. Israel (and Egypt) have allowed building materials to go into Gaza for the building of houses, schools, hospital and other peaceful purposes. Those building materials have been CONSTANTLY seized by Hamas, and turned into terror tunnels so terrorists can sneak into Israel, and kill innocent Israeli citizens. THAT is what Obama/Biden wants to establish in the Middle East. A "palestinian" state that is openly at war with Israel. I think Trump's policy has been better. When the 'palestinians' desire peace more than war, then progress can be made with them. Biden/Harris will not be able to impose a deal on Israel that will work. And isolating Israel from the US is absolutely NOT the answer.

And finally, if the Kamala Harris we saw during the impeachment/Kavanaugh hearings is an example of what we can expect from her when she moves into the WH, then this country is in more trouble that we care to acknowledge. For anyone to think that this is a fair-minded and rational person is absolutely laughable.

[Tom W]

Kamala? I have not found the motivation to do the homework. It doesn't matter to me, so long as Trump gets voted out. Nothing or no one could be possibly worse than Trump. Ever. He is America's Judas. That's why there are AOC types in Congress. A knee jerk political reaction to the likes of Trump. When one dumb fuck gets elected, voters elect other dumb fucks to balance things out.
.

It can also be argued that we have Trump in office because both parties continued to appease their extremists while failing, miserably, to pay any attention to the rest of us. He's not there because people think he's a brilliant politician, or because we're a nation that's inherently racist, bigoted or Fascist- or because he's got some ridiculous secret relationship with Putin. He's there because the Democrats AND Republicans were too inept to actually look at this country and provide ANY candidate that met that definition.

I would like to think that there well lessons learned from 2016. But, considering all that has transpired, constantly, since he got elected, all that I can say is ROTFLMFAO.

[Hannibal]

Trump is in office because the Repubican party failed to pay attention to their entire constituency and has not accomplished anything that they have promised to do since the mid 1990s.