Politics/Slapfights - Ancient history to modern day!

[Raga]

Stop Alleging Anti-Semitism Just to Score Political Points

Notice, Anti-Semitism only. Not homophobia. Not transphobia. Not sexism. Not racism. Just specifically Anti-semitism. Because obviously that's the only "ism" that gets flung around to score political points, and even if it's not that's the only one that, you know, is actually a problem worth mentioning.

Key passage: "Republicans are already attacking critics of Israeli government policy as “anti-Israel,” or even “anti-Semitic.” They have set out to drive a wedge between the progressive and more centrist wings of the Democratic Party, focusing in particular on people of color, women, and, most cynically, the two newly elected Muslim women in Congress."

Youuu guuyysss!!! You're using an effective strategy to make us less likely to win! That's only fair when we do it!

Also, noteworthy: "Sadly, the noisy political firefight means there’s little chance of having the discussion that’s actually needed about how to end the nearly century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

As if the United States can somehow magically "solve" the problem that's been a problem for 100 years by shifting around financing or sending sternly worded letters. This will get fixed when Israel and Palestine are really ready to fix it and no sooner. The opinions of the United States and Europe are mostly background noise.

[Mobius_118]

You are pure salt mobius. It's consistently hilarious.

You're pure shit, GAC. It's tragic.

Look at it this way: A man is guilty, and has an investigation opened up on him to prove as such. His cronies are saying he's not guilty, even though the same cronies are also being thrown in jail for crimes they've been proven guilty on.

Who do you believe? His cronies or the criminal justice system?

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

You are pure salt mobius. It's consistently hilarious.

You're pure shit, GAC. It's tragic.

Look at it this way: A man is guilty, and has an investigation opened up on him to prove as such. His cronies are saying he's not guilty, even though the same cronies are also being thrown in jail for crimes they've been proven guilty on.

Who do you believe? His cronies or the criminal justice system?

The one that just closed it's investigation with no evidence of collusion obviously. But your cult won't allow that. Because this is the last arrow in your quiver. When that goes you've got nothing. You're going to lose in the next general and it's going to be delicious because of how easy it could have been for you and your fellows to adapt and learn from your mistakes. You haven't, you wont't, your fervor won't let you.

[Mobius_118]

I like how you say things that don't mesh with reality. You say I'm in a cult, I'm a cuck, blah blah fucking blah.

You're the one saying things like the investigation is closed. It's not.

You say I'm in a cult, yet you're the one clinging to the desperate hope that he's innocent as his cabinet continues to crumble under the investigations into their corruption. Lying to Congress is a federal offense, and every single one of them have done so.

You call me a cuck. Here's some handy-dandy definitions for you.

1. A weak or servile man (often used as a contemptuous term for a man with moderate or progressive political views).
2. A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful; a cuckold.

Since you're servile to the infantile ideal of libertarianism, which is nothing more than a fantasy, you're the cuckold here. You enjoy watching others get fucked.

You are projecting your insecurities on others, GAC. I'd suggest you grow up before reality slaps you in your weak ego.

[Vol]

Re: Cultural Marxism - Case in point, the fighting game community. For a long time, was it's own, community run group. Had many of their own tournies, very little corporate money, trashy characters, entirely male, and there was a large minority population. This could not stand. How dare this happen. Men of all races, enjoying a male activity, simulating violence, without oversight from "official" powers, while also enjoying T&A? Heresy.

So in the last few years alone, MK has made a hard pivot from Sonya being a sex doll with her tits hanging out inside a vest to a plain Jane. Jade is now a zombie that only shows her upper arms (Ankles would be too scandalous). She can also wear a head scarf! But you can rip their faces off, of course. DOA tries to appeal to Western puritans for some reason, now they're trying to backtrack as launch draws near, because it turns out the tits were a necessary component of the experience. EVO Japan outright kills their stream because some models hired to be eye candy were jiggling their tits or some shit, then the guy in charge issues a public apology. He later deleted it after being roundly mocked. Capcom moved the camera on Rainbow Mika's ass slap during her ultimate cinematic to just above the jiggle line, EVO demands she not use her default outfit on the main stage because a wrestling leotard is haram.

This is all in the context of games where you beat the shit out of these characters, and sometimes murder them horrifically. You can rip off a tit, but you can't show the cleavage now. Who are these decisions for? Who asked for this? Why did their requests get granted by multiple studios and organizations? Clearly there's a common thread, clearly there is a purpose to this desexualization even as the violence is amplified.

[TheodoricFriede]

Clearly there's a common thread, clearly there is a purpose to this desexualization even as the violence is amplified.

...Vol, the women in Mortal Kombat looked AWFUL before. They were weird and disproportional.

Plus those old costumes are usually added in anyway.

[Alienmorph]

I have seen the kind of de-sexualization Vol is mentioning, it's definately a think that happens. But MK, or Injustice for that matter, doesn't suffer too much from it. I think it's more a case of the studio trying different designs and switching to more realistic looks and graphic engine.

Plus yeah... MK9 Sonya looked weeeeeird. I mean... I like a nice pair of jiggling boobs as much as most straight guys, but she had a huge square jaw, and those big bulky shoulders... it was just a bad design, not just a matter of it being sexualized or not. Same with the first Injustice... it probably had some of the ugliest female faces I've seen in a videogame.

I am the first who gets annoyed at excess of political correctness... pretty sure I made that clear by now lol... but it's important to not jump to conclusion and immediately label anything that tries to be or look a bit different than before as social justice nonsense.

[TTTX]

I am the first who gets annoyed at excess of political correctness... pretty sure I made that clear by now lol... but it's important to not jump to conclusion and immediately label anything that tries to be or look a bit different than before as social justice nonsense.

Yeah, you should always wait for the product to come out before criticizing it, unless the people in charge of the product decide to act like jackasses.

Like what happen with the Battlfield V fiasko.

[Joblom]

I was friends with a professional artist who has worked on some popular games. Biggest SJW you will find constantly bitching about the sexualization of women. Her art though? Constant fetishistic cheesecake objectifying both genders but totally not hypocrisy because... reasons.

Regarding this last weeks political developments: I consider this a return to normalcy.

1. A weak or servile man (often used as a contemptuous term for a man with moderate or progressive political views).
2. A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful; a cuckold.

I would presume he means "cuck" in the ideological sense. IE: you swallow propaganda, slavishly pander to the very elites who exploit you, and indulge in double-think because you are socially rewarded for doing so. To embrace Leftist dogma in the modern age is to be ignorant for dishonest. A logical and honest mind cannot possibly support the modern Left and even looking back would have to say that their driving ideology was based on well intentioned but ultimately false assumptions about human kind.

[Alienmorph]

I was friends with a professional artist who has worked on some popular games. Biggest SJW you will find constantly bitching about the sexualization of women. Her art though? Constant fetishistic cheesecake objectifying both genders but totally not hypocrisy because... reasons.

Oh boy isn't it full of that kind of guys. It's one of the reasons I staid away from Tumblr even when it allowed adult art on it. I'm not ashamed to say I draw adult stuff for money, and for fun, but I can't stand the levels of hypocrisy of that brand of artists.

"OMG Sword Art Online is the worst thing ever, because of that scene where a guy kidnaps Asuna, puts her in a slave bikini and locks her in a cage (-like THAT is the only problem SAO has lol-)... anyway, here's my new 10-pages comic of the Gems from SU having a bondage party =D"

Get fuuuuuuucked!

[Joblom]

Oh boy isn't it full of that kind of guys. It's one of the reasons I staid away from Tumblr even when it allowed adult art on it. I'm not ashamed to say I draw adult stuff for money, and for fun, but I can't stand the levels of hypocrisy of that brand of artists.

The hypocrisy is what drives me crazy. I can tolerate a lot that I disagree with but not hypocrisy. Be consistent in your values, be honest about them.

[Vol]

...Vol, the women in Mortal Kombat looked AWFUL before. They were weird and disproportional.

Plus those old costumes are usually added in anyway.

I have a philosophical opposition to denigrating the human form.

...Outside of porn.

So taking funbag Sonya and making her more realistic and less sexual rubs me wrong on a fundamental level if not done for a better reason than, what appears to be, a strain of neo-puritanism acting solely on the beauty of the female form, but not on the gruesome destruction of it. I blame my mother for introducing me to Michelangelo as a little boy.

I am the first who gets annoyed at excess of political correctness... pretty sure I made that clear by now lol... but it's important to not jump to conclusion and immediately label anything that tries to be or look a bit different than before as social justice nonsense.

I used to take that tact. Then I noticed how it meant that my perspective would always lose and those who want to cover up/censor/punish would always win.

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[Alienmorph]

I'm not saying to accept censorship, just to make sure not to label every change in design as censorship. Big difference. When it comes to this kind of stuff it's necessary to pick your battles... as long as a female character is still allowed to have sex appeal, and the overall aestetic is good, I'm fine with redesigns. Basically, as long as it feels like an upgrade or it fit the rest of the aestetic of the game/movie/comic instead than blatant cockblocking, I'm okay with it.

I mean... it's not like giving Sonya Blade a shirt is the equivalent of going from this...



... to this. Just to make a well-timed example.

Now when THIS kind of stuff happens, I'm 100% with you.

[Vol]

I'm not saying to accept censorship, just to make sure not to label every change in design as censorship. Big difference. When it comes to this kind of stuff it's necessary to pick your battles... as long as a female character is still allowed to have sex appeal, and the overall aestetic is good, I'm fine with redesigns. Basically, as long as it feels like an upgrade or it fit the rest of the aestetic of the game/movie/comic instead than blatant cockblocking, I'm okay with it.

That's rational, I agree. But we're dealing with irrationality. And you cannot fight that by being rational, as we've seen over the last few years. There are no debates on whether or not the idea that showing skin on fictional characters harms women in real life in any sense, or if women actually care, because that's not the modus operandi of the "cultural Marxists." They need their perpetual revolution, they need their "class enemy," so on and on it goes. And if you pick and choose your battles, then you're always ceding ground. How many victories against censorship can you think of in the last 5 years versus all the defeats? Big and small, it's been giant corporations and power hungry, moral busybodies taking more and more from what was a relatively open space. It's the same idea as why the right-wing in America always loses, they'd rather than be honorable in defeat than dishonorable in victory.

So yeah, this doesn't matter all that much. MK11 wants to cover up their women, give them breast reduction, and plainer faces. That's fine. It can fit the aesthetic, so long as the men aren't looking like Conan and Brad Pitt with cock bulges the size of their fists. But it's also a tacit agreement with the sex-negative powers that be that they can have this. They can have that. We'll be good boys, quiet and passive, until our personal favorites are threatened, but hey, precedent.

[Alienmorph]

You're not telling me anything that I don't already know, or talk about semi-regularly here and elsewhere.

But yeah... I'd actually prefer to stay rational and honorable on the matter. I don't believe acting like an sjw to fight sjw mentality is gonna do much. Just ask to that asshole of Sargon of Akkhad how well that is working out for him.

I'd much rather NOT act like a crazy person, speak with my wallett and let the online wack-jobs eat each other while I point and laugh at them from the sideline. SJWisms cost corporations millions... some times even billions... of dollars every year. Sooner or later it's a trend that's gonna die out, it's just not economically sustainable.

Of course outrage culture and all that shit is gonna go on, but eventually someone is gonna make a lot of money by doing the opposite of SJW pandering, and the big industries will take the hint and stop listen to that vocal minority of imbecils.

Meanwhile, there's already so many games, movies and stuff to read to last us multiple lifetimes. It sucks to see many of our beloved franchises being run to the ground by libtards, but it's not like thei're our only means to be entertained.

[TheodoricFriede]

So taking funbag Sonya and making her more realistic and less sexual rubs me wrong on a fundamental level if not done for a better reason than, what appears to be, a strain of neo-puritanism acting solely on the beauty of the female form, but not on the gruesome destruction of it. I blame my mother for introducing me to Michelangelo as a little boy.

Counterpoint.

I think the new iterations of Sonya are far more attractive then the older version. By making her more realistic they managed to sexuality her to me more, rather then less.

[Mazder]

Genuine question:
Twitter took down one of Trump's Tweets the other day.
Now isn't there a law that states that everything the President writes down/makes has to be preserved as public record?

So my question is, did Twitter violate that law if it's true or does it not count as that was on a privately owned company's platform and then First Amendment Rights for them comes into play?

[Alienmorph]

Arching back to yesterday conversation about sexualization in media, and the censorship problem. Apparently critics are bashing left and right Alita Battle Angel, and one of their main excuses seems to be that the main character has an "unrealistic, sexualized appearance". You know... the character that's 90% special effects, and in-universe a 90% artificial thing, literally meant to NOT look like a realistic human, but just human enough to be sympathetic and interesting to look at.

"Unfortunately" said criticism didn't stop the movie from almost making back all the money that it took to make it in just a few days, and from everyone who is a normal human whol likes science-fiction to enjoy the film. Seems like there's a bit of bias and disconnect, like when they complained that Aquaman promoted toxic mascuilinity and should have been more political. Juust a bit.

But of course, now it's time to discredit anime and manga and anything related to them, because the people in Japan keep laughing at the obession with certain matters there is here in the West, and their stuff sells better than almost every piece of woke garbabe media.

Meanwhile the same idiots keep licking Brie Larson's ass and tell people to go see Captain Marvel, even tho the only things memorable about it are apparently the alien cat, and the cameo of the literal purple haired feminist that wrote one of the many moder Cpt Marvel comics nobody bought lol

[Mobius_118]

1. A weak or servile man (often used as a contemptuous term for a man with moderate or progressive political views).
2. A man whose wife is sexually unfaithful; a cuckold.

I would presume he means "cuck" in the ideological sense. IE: you swallow propaganda, slavishly pander to the very elites who exploit you, and indulge in double-think because you are socially rewarded for doing so. To embrace Leftist dogma in the modern age is to be ignorant for dishonest. A logical and honest mind cannot possibly support the modern Left and even looking back would have to say that their driving ideology was based on well intentioned but ultimately false assumptions about human kind.

Yeah you're sounding more and more like GAC-lite.

When you have people shitting themselves over a made up border crisis, that's already been been proven to be a lie, rather than the blatant disregard for the Constitutional crisis in the White House, you're a part of the problem.

[Raga]

This whispering about the hard border in Ireland potentially bringing back violence or something. Is there anything to that because it frankly just looks like scare tactics. Ireland just voted to legalize abortion. The Pope showed up not so long ago and the crowds he gathered there were like "eh" size compared to historical turnout. It seems mostly like Ireland has secularized and doesn't actually give enough of a fuck about religious/regional differences anymore to actually fight about it.

[Mazder]

This whispering about the hard border in Ireland potentially bringing back violence or something. Is there anything to that because it frankly just looks like scare tactics. Ireland just voted to legalize abortion. The Pope showed up not so long ago and the crowds he gathered there were like "eh" size compared to historical turnout. It seems mostly like Ireland has secularized and doesn't actually give enough of a fuck about religious/regional differences anymore to actually fight about it.

It only takes a few to make enough trouble over here.
I mean get a band of 20 terrorists to plant a few bombs and it's almost the same as the true IRA.
It's enough of a fear of not wanting it to happen, especially as those in the Republic of Ireland still do not really want any British Influence and rejoining the Norther Ireland section to Ireland would still add that influence into their political scene.

[Alienmorph]

The Vic Mignogna thing keeps on degenerating. Now a bunch of the people who are speaking against the allegations, or even only advocating it should be the law and not the web mob to investigate the situation, are being preventively kicked out of conventions, and there's even been an asshole claiming one of those people had her swatted.

Btw, there's still no official police report or official investigation being done on the case, and the pile of proofs the photos and allegations were faked kept on growing. But oh well... fuck the whole innocent 'till proven guilty thing.

[Raga]

Some assholes are apparently trying to get a nearly 100 year old war memorial in the shape of a cross removed from public land because it ostensibly violates the first amendment. Now, that's coming up before the most conservative Supreme Court in 20 years who is likely to codify strong support for religious iconography on public lands in general.

I'd say it doesn't make me happy to see an absolutist, evangelical "my way or the highway" view blow up in people's faces, but I'd be lying.

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

The Vic Mignogna thing keeps on degenerating. Now a bunch of the people who are speaking against the allegations, or even only advocating it should be the law and not the web mob to investigate the situation, are being preventively kicked out of conventions, and there's even been an asshole claiming one of those people had her swatted.

Btw, there's still no official police report or official investigation being done on the case, and the pile of proofs the photos and allegations were faked kept on growing. But oh well... fuck the whole innocent 'till proven guilty thing.

That's the glorious Progressive way my friend!

Innocent until proven guilty? Fuck that that might discourage a victim!

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4hOipCF8U&list=WL&index=10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11h_7pJgGM

Decided to post these here, because of possible political discussions that might happen.

[Alienmorph]

Midnight's Edge is pretty good at that kind of coverage. Their work on all the b.s. going on with Star Trek has been particularly interesting and well-researched. So much so Paramount tried to take them down for revealing their bluffs, in fact.

Also yes, fuck Captain Marvel. I didn't think I'd want to skip to see and MCU movie, going to watch them has become pretty much a tradition between me and my best friend over the years, but then Brie Larson started opening her mouth and yeah... I'm not gonna encourage that kind of mindset to creep into my escapism even more than it already did.

[Raga]

I'll watch it when it comes out on video probably. I almost never go to the movies anymore just because it's such a hassle and I like my couch better.

I do a pretty good job of being oblivious to the politics of various creative people and I can't say that that has really come back to bite me in the ass. It let me watch Black Panther with something approximating a neutral stance, neither resenting it simply for existing nor expecting it to be some amazing earth-shattering experience.

I've said before that if Marvel could manage to make Ant-Man of all stupid things not suck, I'm reasonably willing to extend them the benefit of the doubt until proved otherwise. The worst Marvel movie so far was still adequate. They have yet to make an actually bad one.

[TTTX]

Midnight's Edge is pretty good at that kind of coverage. Their work on all the b.s. going on with Star Trek has been particularly interesting and well-researched. So much so Paramount tried to take them down for revealing their bluffs, in fact.

Also yes, fuck Captain Marvel. I didn't think I'd want to skip to see and MCU movie, going to watch them has become pretty much a tradition between me and my best friend over the years, but then Brie Larson started opening her mouth and yeah... I'm not gonna encourage that kind of mindset to creep into my escapism even more than it already did.

Well the movie will probably at least enjoyable, it is the MCU and Brie didn't write the script or direct the movie.

But we'll see. in a few weeks.

[Mobius_118]

That's the glorious Progressive way my friend!

Innocent until proven guilty? Fuck that that might discourage a victim!

You shit yourself over Hillary Clinton's emails, then remain silent over the trump team's lack of information protection that actually is negligence.

[Alienmorph]

Well the movie will probably at least enjoyable, it is the MCU and Brie didn't write the script or direct the movie.

But we'll see. in a few weeks.

Politics aside, I worry it could be the Solo: A SW Story of the MCU...

"Look! This is how Nick Fury lost his eye!"

"Look! This is where the Quinjet comes from!"

"Look! This is what turned Ronan the Accuser into a supervillain!"

And that most of the answers will be extremely meh and uninsteresting, again, like with Solo. Or the snippet in the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie where we find out where Jack Sparrow's name and outfit came from. Or with the extended backstory of the Belle and the Beast in the "live action" remake. Disney doesn't have a good track record with prequels or retroactive origin stories, does it?

Also, it's still based on the Godawful post-reboot comics more than it is on the classic good version of the character. And it's likely gonna kickstart the whole Secret Invasion sthick that probably was one of my least favorite overarching plots the comics had.

The lead actress having a hate-boner for half of the cinecomics' core demographic is kind of like the icing on the cake over something I want to like, but I was already concerned with.

[TTTX]

You shit yourself over Hillary Clinton's emails, then remain silent over the trump team's lack of information protection that actually is negligence.

and yet as far as I remember she didn't get investigated very well, Trump on the other hand gets accused of working with Russians for years, then that gets investigated which turns out nothing, while Hillarys emails we have no idea what they contained or whatever other information got deleted, but whatever it was most not have had Hillary look good.

Politics aside, I worry it could be the Solo: A SW Story of the MCU...

"Look! This is how Nick Fury lost his eye!"

"Look! This is where the Quinjet comes from!"

"Look! This is what turned Ronan the Accuser into a supervillain!"

And that most of the answers will be extremely meh and uninsteresting, again, like with Solo. Or the snippet in the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie where we find out where Jack Sparrow's name and outfit came from. Or with the extended backstory of the Belle and the Beast in the "live action" remake. Disney doesn't have a good track record with prequels or retroactive origin stories, does it?

Also, it's still based on the Godawful post-reboot comics more than it is on the classic good version of the character. And it's likely gonna kickstart the whole Secret Invasion sthick that probably was one of my least favorite overarching plots the comics had.

The lead actress having a hate-boner for half of the cinecomics' core demographic is kind of like the icing on the cake over something I want to like, but I was already concerned with.

We'll see, I have faith in the guy who leads the MCU, he has had more hits then misses and he actually cares about the movies that gets made and if Brie goes over whatever line Disney has set for her, well they'll replace her with someone else (which has happened in the MCU before).

[Alienmorph]

Quite true. Fingers crossed.

[Mobius_118]

You shit yourself over Hillary Clinton's emails, then remain silent over the trump team's lack of information protection that actually is negligence.

and yet as far as I remember she didn't get investigated very well, Trump on the other hand gets accused of working with Russians for years, then that gets investigated which turns out nothing, while Hillarys emails we have no idea what they contained or whatever other information got deleted, but whatever it was most not have had Hillary look good.

Hillary was investigated thoroughly over the emails, with no criminal prosecution. Just like Benghazi, which was the GOP's fault for not authorizing additional security at the request of Clinton at the time.

The Russia investigation continues to put people away for lying about being involved with Russia. This witch hunt sure is finding a lot of witches.

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

That's the glorious Progressive way my friend!

Innocent until proven guilty? Fuck that that might discourage a victim!

You shit yourself over Hillary Clinton's emails, then remain silent over the trump team's lack of information protection that actually is negligence.

Nah dude. I didn't like Clinton because she was corrupt as fuck and not even charismatic about it. At least Bubba Bill could fake charm in between rapes.

I'm definitely waiting to see what the next patch brings in terms of your responses though. You've been in need of an update for a while now.

[TTTX]

Hillary was investigated thoroughly over the emails, with no criminal prosecution. Just like Benghazi, which was the GOP's fault for not authorizing additional security at the request of Clinton at the time.

The Russia investigation continues to put people away for lying about being involved with Russia. This witch hunt sure is finding a lot of witches.

Considering her connections, friends and the amount of rich and powerful who wanted her to be president, it's not surprising she was found not guilty, I have seen it before in my own country, except our female actually won despite being involved in illegal shit.

yet Trump is still president and he will most liekly serve the full term, better hope the Democrates have candidate doesn't fuck on the campaign like Hillary did or else it's Trump for another 4 years.

[Mobius_118]

Nah dude. I didn't like Clinton because she was corrupt as fuck and not even charismatic about it. At least Bubba Bill could fake charm in between rapes.

I'm definitely waiting to see what the next patch brings in terms of your responses though. You've been in need of an update for a while now.

Yeah ok, sport.

Keep being a libertarian parasite. It's endlessly entertaining for me.

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

Nah dude. I didn't like Clinton because she was corrupt as fuck and not even charismatic about it. At least Bubba Bill could fake charm in between rapes.

I'm definitely waiting to see what the next patch brings in terms of your responses though. You've been in need of an update for a while now.

Yeah ok, sport.

Keep being a libertarian parasite. It's endlessly entertaining for me.

I'm also having a great deal of fun. I'll be having even more fun by November of next year.

Anyway to address some of the other things brought up by the adults in the room I generally find it to be a good idea to try and separate media from the creator as much as possible. I've gotten very used to learning that authors, actors, ect that do work I genuinely enjoy tend to be less than pristine if you look into them further.

I'd probably still be going to see these Marvel movies if I wasn't done with Disney after the trainwreck of the Last Jedi. This actress for the Captain Marvel movie doesn't do much to inspire confidence but that would probably just make me wait for reviews before deciding one way or another.

[Vol]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... reddit.com

I would think they have a very strong case, given this involves minors, and video evidence contradicting the first reports was out there immediately.

[Raga]

I support that, but the $250 million price point just makes it look like a stunt. I get that they figure that if they win they won't get anything like that amount, but still. It has something of the "the accident you caused cost me $250,000 in medical expenses but I'm going to sue for $20 million in emotional damages anyway" stupidity to it.

Plus this is going to have 0 impact on Twitter lynch mobs. It just means big outfits might pause for slightly longer before reposting Twitter lynch mob posts and adopt slightly more waffling language like "So and so alleges that..."

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

Yeah. It probably won't actually accomplish much in the long run. But even if they don't get a fraction of the money they're suing for it's going to hurt that media outlet and at this point the MSM is really very badly in need of some financial bruising.

[Raga]

The Virginia Democrats Warring Factions Talking about the brouhaha about whether Northam should resign or not.

Remember, it was a very conservative website that initially published the blackface photo.

Meanwhile, Black voters overwhelmingly want him to stay in office and approve of what he's doing

And also, that study from last year that documented that progressive activists are overwhelmingly white people.

Pro tip as a takeaway: If you want Dems to win in 2020, stop exposing this weak point to conservatives. They will aggressively exploit it. Don't do what the Republicans did, which is ignore the base in favor of what the elites want. That stuff will bite you in the ass.

[Vol]

Ole' Bernie is the 2020 race. Packed house on the left. Feel a bit bad for the guys who went on donation frenzies last time, and will this time. Trump has shown us well, even if an outsider co-opts the system and pulls out a win, nothing changes. Nothing major. Voting matters only at the local level, to a degree. But even then, if you push too hard one way or another, bigger government will come in and smack your choices away. How dare we pretend we live in a democratic republic!

We can never get a proper border wall. Feasibility is irrelevant, the cost is nothing. $5b, $10b, $30b, we piss that away daily. That high speed rail in Cali was estimated at $30b, then tripled just recently. We've paid for walls in other countries, like Israel, that could build their own with their own money. We bleed aid to countries that hate us. Most of our budget goes to welfare programs, which in turn distorts the markets and leads to more welfare. And anything Trump tries to do will be bogged in court for years and years. National emergency will be challenged, blocked, overruled, blocked, paperwork and delay, until it's time for the Dems to have their turn for 8 years and ignore it. Need more Hispanics, clearly, replacing a third our population with them over half a century wasn't enough.

Same shit if Bernie pulled a miracle and won. Nothing would get through the Dems, who at least are willing to get down in the muck to fight. GOP has their honor in defeat, which is a lovely sport to assuage their base that they really did try. Medicare for all would cost a lot of politicians a lot of money. That's the point of Obamacare. Squeeze the little people harder. Make government bigger. More bureaucracy, means it's harder to undo any of it. Give away more so people are dependent on you, then you have them forever. Know what Medicare for all would be if Bernie got it through? A private-public deal, same as before. No direct deals from government to providers, think of the leeches who'd go without blood! Sure, costs would go through the roof, maybe spending on welfare would go from 66% of the budget to 90%, who cares, someone in the future will pay down the debt. Or not, debt doesn't matter, so long as we pay our interest!

I was reading that John Wayne interview in Playboy, '71, that online fucksticks are getting upset about. The man was fairly spot on about a lot of points still salient today. And that's a damn shame. Marxists in academia, propaganda, affirmative action, the intentional dissolution of western values. 48 years later, man looks like an oracle.

Bleh. Stream of conscious thought, but had to get it out. The west really is fucking itself to death.

[TheodoricFriede]

I was reading that John Wayne interview in Playboy, '71, that online fucksticks are getting upset about.

Uh... was anyone ACTUALLY getting upset about this? All i saw were repeated jokes similar to "Breaking news: Man born in 1907 has dated opinions on sexuality and race...", or "We should punish John Wayne by having him die in 1971!"

[TTTX]

Bleh. Stream of conscious thought, but had to get it out. The west really is fucking itself to death.

I could have told you that over 10 years ago.

[Raga]

I'm more surprised that people didn't know this about John Wayne. It's been known he was a staunch conservative for like, well, forever. Why is this suddenly news?

So is Clint Eastwood.

[Raga]

But even then, if you push too hard one way or another, bigger government will come in and smack your choices away. How dare we pretend we live in a democratic republic!

Been reading/watching/listening to a whole bunch of stuff about political philosophy for the last year or so. It has actually made me into something bordering an anti-intellectual. There are almost no organized political philosophies, liberal or conservative, ostensibly democratic or authoritarian, that don't have a feature hard-baked into them which is basically "People are stupid and can't govern themselves. Therefore we need a class of elites consisting of X people who can override them whenever they feel it's expedient."

It's also pretty telling that the proposed class of elites usually conveniently consists of people who look an awful lot like the particular political philosopher in question.

[Vol]

I didn't look too deeply, since nobodies on Twitter getting upset is like finding shit in a public restroom. But it was curated to be trending, and thus highly visible, so I had to browse to find the link to the actual interview.

But he is a respected cultural icon, so, you know. Tear him down like a Confederate statue!

@Raga: Do you have any idea of how to correct that very human design flaw that isn't a routine bloodletting? Because I'm at a loss as to how even a motivated population could stop the wheels of the nobility with words and ballots.

[Raga]

@Raga: Do you have any idea of how to correct that very human design flaw that isn't a routine bloodletting? Because I'm at a loss as to how even a motivated population could stop the wheels of the nobility with words and ballots.

Not really. I still can't make up my mind if the solution is to find the most tolerable version of elites or to keep trying to get rid of them. It has increased my respect for jury trials though. That really is about the only place where your fate really is in the hands of a bunch of more or less average, representative people.

[Vol]

The local paper is going to back Booker and smear Harris, so at this early stage, that's probably the tentative plan from the media arm of the Democrats. Obama part 2: Probably also gay, Harris is out. Though with Bernie in, who knows, they're trying to pivot left without actually committing to the populism that Sanders brings.

Not really. I still can't make up my mind if the solution is to find the most tolerable version of elites or to keep trying to get rid of them. It has increased my respect for jury trials though. That really is about the only place where your fate really is in the hands of a bunch of more or less average, representative people.

As well as jury nullification, as much as the court system tries to suppress it. That should be something all jurors know about going in.

America was intended as a revolutionary state, and at least as late as Lincoln, there was an expectation that we had a revolutionary right to dissolve our leadership if all else fails. The Civil War put an end to the idea of an organized withdrawal at the state level, albeit. But as the Coast Guard lieutenant who was just arrested shows, while our spooks might fail to stop certain types of terrorist attacks, they are fantastic at stopping right-wing extremists well before they attempt anything.

But I'm on board with periodic purges of the aristocracy, peaceful or violent. Any self-sufficient system necessarily spends more and more effort on its own sustainability than its purpose as time goes on.

[Mazder]

Shamima Begum has right to return to UK - Jeremy Corbyn

Fuck sake Corbyn.

No, that fucking traitor doesn't deserve the right to return to the UK you fucking cunt!
She joined a terrorist organisation, had fucking babies with them, they kept dying and now she's managed to cling on to a ISIS sprog she wants to return to the UK and live off benefits because in all likelihood this third baby would also die in Syria.

She has no rights to return here, she can stay with her terrorist husband and die there.

I can't believe the left wing party's head thinks it's okay for a terrorist to return.
For Fuck sake, why not just use our own Military to kill us all now? It'd be cheaper and faster than letting terrorist families in you fucking cunt!



Sorry.....I had to vent that....