Jump to content

GW Hayduke

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    1705
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by GW Hayduke

  1. 10 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    Speaking of disinformation, is there confirmation that the IDF shoots up dance parties in Gaza and carries off women as hostages? How about shooting entire families in their beds at point blank range? 

    Everyone should be more responsible of the media we consume and share with others. A good tip is to stay off twitter. 

    • Hook 'Em 5
    • Like 3
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  2. 9 hours ago, bolverk said:

    One of the things that really bugs me about the DT thread right now is that many of its participants could not give one single solitary fuck about atrocities committed by Russia on Ukrainian civilians. I'd bet there are several on there who've now posted more on a day-old, 8-page thread than on a 5-year-old, 1,500-page one.

    Is that because of who the victims are (speaking only about Israelis since Saturday vs Ukranians)? Or is it more about who the aggressors are (Muslims vs. Putin/Russia)?

    There is a ton of connection between Israel's Likud and Putin's Russia.  Both use the power of government and military to control and oppress the "others."  This is why DT, fox news loons, and trumpists align in their support with both.  Trumpists love the idea of an ethno-state imposing apartheid.  This is what they want in the US.  They want to use government to control culture and oppress.  They see both Bibi and Putin as heroes and see Trump as the same.  

    The fact that Hamas is so incredibly terrible and literal terrorists gives a ton of cover to the trumpists to push their true desires - see the DT - genocide, oppression, ethnic cleansing. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 2
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  3. 37 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    It’s all over the fucking internet and Has filmed it and put it there. I won’t repost dead bodies and desecrated corpses. 
     

    Super lame to goal-tend on this one, they did it and are proud of it. Just move on to the TPs of how it’s OK, cause those are out there too. 

    I didn’t see the reporting. Are you referring to what you saw on Twitter?

    • Fuck You 1
  4. 40 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    I think you’re optimistic in what you think most Israeli people will feel and want after seeing naked corpses of young women molested and paraded through the streets, and elderly women laying dead with their brains spattered across a bus stop. 

    Source? 

    • Fuck You 1
  5. Site seems very stable without ads. Thanks for shutting them down. They were a beating.

    I’m ok with most ads on most sites but the ones that were on surly were out of wack.  If you could fix those ads and make them normal - not fucking up my phone, covering text on my PC, or taking me to some weird random website - I’d be more than good with it. Maybe that would cost a lot of money to fix.

  6. 3 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

    As we know from our good Republican friends that prohibition never leads to good outcomes, so let's refocus on the problem. If the goal is to prevent or at least deter public office from being a lifetime gig, take the incentive away. If you take the big money out of politics and make it such that only the people who actually want to get into public office are doing so because they want to help and affect their constituents' lives. Ergo, let's stop making it so fucking profitable to be a politician. Nancy isn't clean on this issue, but she's far from the worst offender. I'd be willing to bet she would have set sail a long time ago, though, if it weren't so lucrative to be there in the first place. I'm not saying starve our politicians, but certainly get rid of Citizens United and make campaigns publicly funded and limited, like they do in Europe. We'd get a lot more our of our elected officials if they weren't spending 75% of their time trying to get the next check.

    I think this is a good way to think about the situation.  Campaign finance reform and ending citizen's united are very much needed things.

    Quote

    If the goal is to prevent or at least deter public office from being a lifetime gig

    This is my only quibble.  I'm good with reforming compensation and limiting stock trading, but I think our real goal should be to have a functioning government that meets the needs of the country.  In order to get to that point IMO, we need to shape up the electorate through education, critical thinking, and addressing misinformation so we stop electing clowns.  Also, career politicians are just as effective, if not more so, than rookies at building consensus, whipping votes, and passing legislation.  Nancy vs AOC is a prime example. Mitch vs Tuberville is another.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  7. 19 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Ok, so grandfather them in.  If they are already old, it will take care of itself soon enough. If they are younger and we are grandfathering in any current congresspeople, most of them will eventually move on or lose.  Get the law on the books if you were ever serious.  Oh, there’s the disconnect.  

    I'm serious about fixing our political situation and making our democracy stronger.  However, age restrictions are just window dressing and would be an actual step back for democracy.  Campaign finance reform, ending citizen's united, increasing education and critical thinking, managing misinformation/disinformation and information bubbles are all real substantive solutions.  Age restrictions are just dumb. It is the kind of shit Ted Cruz and Bernie Bros can all rally around.  

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 1
  8. She is running to represent a district.  If the people of that district don't want her to represent them, then they can vote for someone else.  If the people of that district want her to represent them, then they can vote for her.  The people in her district know her age.  That is how democracy works.

    I understand folks here want to set limitations on our democracy and be able to control who the people in that district are able to vote for.  

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 4
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  9. On 9/4/2023 at 10:59 PM, FartingDreamer said:

    You don't think it's a case of the rest of the developed world, leaving us behind in regards to decency and regard for human life?

    Anastasis holds human life in very high regard.  His religion directs him to.  He just holds his convenience with easily purchasing firearms to be paramount.  This is not the same moral failings inflicting the rest of the GOP.  That is something different. 

    • Like 1
  10. On 7/13/2023 at 10:31 AM, NWBuck said:

     

    The use of "human trafficking" in the US is almost entirely fearmongering that points at the "others" as being bad and evil and distracts from the real drivers of the problems described in the documentary. 

    The title of the doc should be "A Broken US Immigration System" or "Poverty in Central America" or "Corrupt Corporate Power." Fix any of those three root causes and there would be no market for smuggling or the problems presented in the doc.

    Frontline's story starts with a Guatemalan family making one dollar a day.  They struggled to feed their teen kids. The spooky evil "trafficker" provides the teens with an illegal means of reaching the US and making money for the cost $15K, which the teens/family have to pay back over time.  

    They made it to the border and were apprehended by CBP. The "trafficker" organized fake sponsors in so the teens were sent Ohio. They were provided with crowded/impoverished living conditions and given a job at Trillium Farms - one of the US' leading producers of eggs, 3.65 billion eggs annually. It has been known since the 90s that this particular farm had workers living in crowded/impoverished conditions.  The farm actually owned the crowded trailers. The Farms are ok with hiring illegal immigrants.  The "trafficker" in this story was a third party contractor for Trillium Farms.  

    The "traffickers" are simply providing a transportation service to people living in poverty and meeting the corporate demand for workers.  The title of this story should be about poverty in Central America that has a significant part of the population desperate to subsist. The title of the story should be about a broken US immigration system that doesn't allow enough legal immigrants to support industry leading to corporations providing impoverished living conditions and illegal immigrants with any rights or power to change their living situations. The story should be about an immoral corporation motivated by a quest for low waged workers leading to hiring teens, firing workers without the proper immigration status, and providing impoverished living conditions for their teen workers.

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
    • Rage+1 4
  11. 2 hours ago, Fastbreak said:


    Actually it does:

    Militia: composition and classes
    (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
    (b) The classes of the militia are—
    (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
    (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

    Unorganized militia =/= well-regulated militia. 

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 1
  12. It is odd that a substantial portion of the population has developed a flawed value system to the point they prefer dead children over slight inconveniences with obtaining firearms. Imagine holding that flawed value system and then calling themselves a responsible gun owner

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 2
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  13. 20 minutes ago, B00M said:

    It’s nothing but a semi-auto rifle. It’s indistinguishable from a hunting rifle other than cosmetic features. 

    You are a shitty Hunter if you need a high-velocity, high-capacity, high rate-of-fire firearm.  Maybe try fishing

    • Hook 'Em 5
    • Like 1
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  14. 1 hour ago, RomaVicta said:

    Read the materials that I suggested. One is composed by a scientist and the other by a meticulous historian whose book is about 40 percent bibliography. The application of these sciences points to the fact that we lie to ourselves about our history and perversely use the lies to justify further killing.

    I'm not talking about the world. I'm talking about the United States. 

    On an individual level, you get Americans believing in the power of the gun to solve problems. Cue Mark Twain. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The lunatic who slaughtered the family in Cleveland, Texas was out shooting his rifle at 11pm. A neighbor asks him to stop.

    That he's out in his yard firing his rifle when people are trying to sleep nearby sounds uniquely American to me. His annoying neighbor interrupts his excercise of his God-given right, an attitude that seems uniquely American to me. He slaughters the neighbor's family, an action all too common in America and rare elsewhere.

     

    That’s cool. Do note that the history and science that you describe in those books doesn’t appear to be inconsistent with with what Sawbonez is saying and isn’t inconsistent the Diamond’s take. 

  15. 14 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

    I couldn't disagree more, but we've each had our say.

    This was an interesting conversation to read. Morality and science. The two of you are not having a disagreement on the facts of history. It seems the disagreement is about the application of moral judgement and whether it is good/bad for civilizations to conquer (assimilate, displace, eradicate) other civilizations.  I understand you feel the history of North America is immoral. Sawbonz and Jared Diamond (in Guns, Germs and Steel) from what I recall are describing the phenomenon and are not applying moral judgement.

    The separation of morality from science is normal and required. People can understand a situation without applying moral judgement, or they can choose to both try to understand a situation and judge at the same time. The downfall of applying morality is that it clouds our understanding of science. Plus moral systems change over time. The downfall of only applying science is that it can be used to hide from today's moral system and promote immoral actions today (Israel/Palestine, Ukraine/Russia, current displacement of indigenous populations in SA, lack of health care and education opportunities in today's indigenous populations in NA). 

  16. 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

    It'd be nice to think that young people would be cynical about the bullshit they see online, given that they are growing up with an online presence being the norm, but nope.  Just as fucking stupid as many before them.

     

    Kind of wild how the morally flawed parts of our population seem to perfectly align with Putin’s Russia. 

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 3
  17. 2 hours ago, royiv said:

    A couple of posts today have got me thinking about what would it take to fix the shit show that is Texas politics. Nothing is going to change until we figure out a way to remove the GQP's influence from the capitol so what are things that would actually move the needle? That said, I thought I would make a list of things I would do if I were king of Texas. I'm interested to hear what others thoughts are on these issues. These are in no particular order.

    Legislative Session

    -Institute an annual legislative session. Texas is one of four states with a biennial session, the others being MT, ND and NV. It seems nuts to me that a state as large, complex and important as Texas thinks we can effectively govern meeting once every two years for 140 days. 

    Marijuana

    -Legalize it and tax it. Use tax proceeds to fund mental health and addiction services for homeless and un/under-insured Texans.

    -Pardon all inmates that are serving a sentence for only simple possession. I would listen to ideas of how far that should go. As a bonus, it would be great if this would help Texas get out of the private prison business. I would include expunging the records of those who have already served sentences under the same terms.

    Healthcare

    -Expand Medicaid. It blows my mind that we as a state leave federal dollars on the table. That means we all pay federal taxes and we're leaving money on the table to be sent to other states that could be coming our way.

    -Repeal the anti-abortion law. Allow women and their healthcare provider to make decisions about an individual woman's health.

    -Stop the attacks on LGBTQ+ community. 

    Guns

    -Institute a red flag law. We need to make sure that Texans suffering a mental health crisis don't have access to guns. We need to protect our own.

    -Institute a 21 year age minimum to purchase an assault weapon (and, no fatty, I'm not going to get into one of your dumb bullet debates with you - these are all 10k foot ideas).

    -Get rid of constitutional carry. You want to carry a gun legally, you're going to need a permit for that.

    -Waiting period on the purchase of guns. 7 days for shotguns, sporting rifles, 14 days for handguns, 28 days for assault weapons (again, fatty, don't muck this up with your bullet talk).

    Education

    -Reevaluate Robin Hood. I admit that I'm not an expert in how to equitably fund education in this state, but I'm smart enough to know our current system is broken. We have bright people in this state, let's get them together and figure out a fix.

    -Improve funding for higher education. California kicks our ass up and down the field on this one. We are woeful for a state of our stature.

    -Get God out of the public schools. End the book ban BS. Return sanity to the classroom so that kids can learn. Listen to our best and brightest educators and fix standardized testing.

    Gambling

    -Why do we let so many dollars cross state lines into LA and OK? Lots of other states have figured out to regulate and tax casino gambling. Let's quit donating money to LA and OK.

    -Legalize sports gambling. See above.

    TABC

    -Burn it to the ground and start over. It's an oversized agency with oversized power in this state. It needs to be overhauled. 

    Taxes

    -This is probably the biggest bogeyman. Our hands are tied w/r/t an income tax in this state so we have got to figure out how we fix the regressive propert tax burden placed on Texans. I'm not the guy to figure it out, but I'd love to brainstorm with some smart economists.

    What am I missing? Transportation? Other agencies that need to be completely overhauled? I'm really interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm hoping this turns into a thread of healthy discussion on ideas how to change the current course of our state, but it will probably turn into monkeys flinging shit at each other by the fourth post.

    In order to accomplish most of those things, the Texas GOP would either need to be removed from power (lose elections) or get to the point where it becomes obvious to them that they will lose elections if they don't change their polices.

    In order for that to happen, the Texas voting population is going to need to shift from voting for the GOP to the Democrats.

    In order for that to happen, we probably need a mix of a) curtailment or regulation of misinformation and disinformation, b) increase in education funding, c) reform the education system to address critical thinking and propaganda susceptibility and instill basic moral values (citizenship, compassion, lying is bad, breaking the law is bad, adults acting like children is bad, adults insulting others is bad, etc.), d) mobilization of progressive donors, e) reform the Dem's party apparatus to increase effectiveness, f) increase voter turnout (remove barriers and increase motivation)... there are probably several other things but those are at the top of mind. 

    It sucks but elections have consequences and the Texas population and their voting habits are very flawed.

×
×
  • Create New...