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George Clooney

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Posts posted by George Clooney

  1. 6 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

    Liz Breunig lying and saying that Trump instituted the expanded child tax credit is pretty par for the course with her.

    She corrected it. You have a point assuming you’re lambasting her for being too generous to conservatives in response to her hatred of centrist Dems.

  2. 21 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

    She’s incredibly naïve. I applaud her position of being pro-life and actually advocating for financial support for new mothers and child tax credit for children. At least she’s consistent, and not outright cruel like the legislators of her pro-choice policies. But she most likely still pulls the R lever, and is complicit in the horrible policies against women and children she purports to care about. 

    I’d be shocked if she pulls the R lever since she’s a social democrat.

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  3. 7 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    From the GOP/conservative viewpoint, I can understand why they want to pass so many anti-gay laws. They consciously or unconsciously recognize that they have many closeted gay men around them.  Now the laws and these viewpoints are horrendous, but they're so afraid of these gay men turning their sons gay.

     

    Your last sentence is spot on regarding devoted Christian men. Very few will ever admit it even online, but they’re terrified of any one of their sons being gay. 

  4. Sure, but that’s true of the majority of topics discussed at any given moment. Again, I should have added “who commentate on these issues” after general public.

  5. 3 minutes ago, F250 said:

    Isn't that the encyclical that everyone except Americans appreciated? I am not Catholic but those comments are not unusual considering they were made in 2018.

     

    Yes. I should have clarified that I meant American Catholics. It’s important for everyone to understand that it’s largely just liberal Western democracies who are opposed to China. I think many already understand this and are disappointed by it, but I still see lots of hubris from Western journalists/the general public who can’t believe that non-Western nations don’t really care about human rights abuses in China.

  6. 9 minutes ago, UDontKnow said:

    That's a good thing though. European colonialism laid the foundation for the proceeding shitshow especially in China.

    Yes, China indeed views its rise and hopeful global hegemony as payback for the century of humiliation. Thankfully for us, they simply were never meant to be true leaders.

  7. 10 minutes ago, F250 said:

    Chinese fascist thought leader. I am curious about how this fracturing will take place too. Xi has been rolling back liberalization in China but it's not like China ever had a bastion of liberalism outside of Hong Kong.

     

    Xi is rolling back liberalization because he knows that'll doom the CCP's long term legitimacy. Just let the demographic chaos play out and watch it crumble. It won't happen any time soon, but just be patient.

  8. 8 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

    Or, uh, you could give me some cliff's notes about it fracturing in our lifetime. Because that seems...culturally unlikely to this lay person. But I'd love to learn more without out putting in the actual work, because, you know, 4 year old. 

    Peter Zeihan goes into more depth on their possible fracture due to social strife from a widely imbalanced M:F gender ratio (I believe it's 118:100 in their <40 demographic). The Chinese are militantly loyal to local authority but generally distrustful of federal authority, and they've been this way for centuries. Because of this, their current unified run is something of a miracle. They're far more socially complex and pro-democratic in private than western media would ever portray.

    Jiang Shigong is one of their primary thought leaders who knows this and thus is trying to bolster the state through codifying moral transformation into CCP ideals. He is an avid scholar of people such as Deleuze, Nietzsche, Foucault, Marx, and Carl Schmitt (gulp). He knows that the state's current authority is only as strong as its constant economic improvement, so he wants China to continue to reject harmful outside forces. Chinese citizens expect to be better off than their parents, and this has been easy in recent times due to Mao's abhorrent economic policies followed by Deng Xiaoping's successful reforms. Funnily enough, he generally dislikes Deng because he believes China was becoming too submissive to the West under his influence.

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  9. Anyone interested in better understanding Xi Jinping Thought/Socialism with Chinese Characteristics ought to read Jiang Shigong. I believe China is destined to fracture in our lifetimes, and it's important to read the words of some of their thought leaders to sense their inner fear.

  10. 53 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

    I’m kind of onboard for another tank year. The 2023 Draft should be a really good one. Anderson is a generational player. Boutte is a tremendous talent. Potential franchise QBs. And sadly Bijan. 
     

    I think Bryce Young screams Tua 2.0. I’d rather have Stroud. 
     

    Hopefully Mills keeps improving, and Anderson somehow slides to the Texans. 

    I think Devin Leary at NC State will be a better pro than Bryce and Stroud.

  11. 6 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

     

     

    It’s unfortunate that so many people like Hitler have grasped onto the Übermensch as their personal salvation. The whole point of the Übermensch is that it is a likely unattainable goal for humanity to escape nihilism borne of the rejection (or death) of God. Like the passage says, people like Hitler loathe their weaknesses and believe that exerting power over others will remedy them. It’s unfortunate that Nietzsche’s sister was an early Nazi sympathizer and helped to warp so many of his words into a sick ideology.

  12. On 4/30/2022 at 1:27 AM, High Plains Drifter said:

     

    two chapters into this:

    9781631494727_p0_v4_s1200x630.jpg&f=1&no

     

    The setting is Northampton UK, at various times in the history of the city. Book is over 1200 pages long. Notice the dick on the cover.

    Only two chapters in and its already a mind fuck. Angels, topology, near death experiences, time dilation, hallucinations, dreams that mean something but I can't figure out what, meditations on space-time, insanity, and higher order dimensions, plus incredible detail about the geography and life in Northampton in two different times (1860s and modern). I suspect other times will be covered as well.

    I have to reread every page a couple of times to get everything, and even then, I feel like I'm missing stuff. I might be in over my head on this one.

     

     

    This one is on my reading list, and I'll probably start it in about a month. For books as long as this one, I always force myself to meet a daily page requirement even if it hits a lull. 

  13. 2 hours ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

    Just Kids by Patti Smith (2010)

    I dug it.  She's a good writer.  Probably a bit too much in the way of dirty feet and head lice for my taste, but viva bohemia.

    That was one of the required texts in a lit class I took in college, and I generally enjoyed it as well. It's tragic to read about the deaths of so many (such as Robert Mapplethorpe) in the LGBT community from the AIDS epidemic.

  14. 1 hour ago, Mo Horn said:

    To be perfectly transparent... I have a Masters of Arts in Religion and worked for a faith community (religious organization) for 18 years, as my father did for 25 years before me. I grew up in the community and wanted nothing more than to work for it. Once I did, I gave myself 100% and sacrificed a lot to do it. As an employee of the World Headquarters, I had the great opportunity to work with people all over the world and travel to many places to support local efforts and local ministers. They, and the places I traveled to, changed my life in more ways than I can ever express. I love theology and I'm passionate about the theological journey every person of faith should take. I am a scripture nerd and love studying the historical Jesus and the scriptures from a faith and historical viewpoint. I taught many classes on all this. I had spent most of my life involved in this, one way or the other, until 6 years ago. 

    However, having worked for the institution for 18 years, I totally get the phrase that you never want to see how the sausage is made. I made it for 18 years, and it had nothing to do with faith or anything related to religion. At the end of the day I was let go due to financial cutbacks. My personal journey before, during, and after that is long and complicated, and more than most have a desire to hear. While I still consider myself to be committed to the ideals of my personal faith, I am no longer associated with that, or any other organized religion. I still associate with people across the world, who I miss dearly, and mourn my lack off association with them.

    If you study the historical Jesus, you will understand he never advocated, or said anything about an organized religion. He was about living every day affirming the worth of each and every person he met simply because they were part of creation. Humans took what he stood for and created the organization, and like everything we do, it became about us, and not about the original ideas. Scriptures were written by those pushing their specific narrative years later, adapting myths and legends to make their case. 

    That's a lot to say that religion, like a lot of things,  was born from pure ideas and corrupted by humans. I get why people are devoted. They want to believe in, and belong to, something greater than themselves. I lived it for 56 years. Sadly, that something is run by humans, and we know what that means. I have no regrets of those 56 years, or where I am today. 

    Have you ever read The Antichrist by Nietzsche?

  15. 3 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

    Conservative guys like easy answers. And they don't like people with differing opinions.  

    To be fair, I don’t hang out with many conservative guys nor are there many outspoken ones in my extended family, so I don’t have a wide-ranging view of their thoughts in recent times. That being said, I don’t wish to shame conservative men or women even if they adhere to strict moral absolutism derived from the Church. I find the timid steadfastness of many liberals to be off putting as well, but that’s a conversation for elsewhere.

  16. 12 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

    Eh, there’s plenty of conservative lawyers and others out there without STEM degrees. I’d wager 90% of their complaints stem from listening to people bitch and stomp feet about not being able to afford a house, kids, loan repayment, whatever, while they knowingly decided to study something that wouldn’t afford them those possibilities. And just how unfair it is their chosen study isn’t a highly paid field.  Additionally, they knowingly and with full conscience passed on paths that pay better. Which is fine, determine what you want to do and go for it.   You won’t find me arguing to rid of the humanities.  But, all that said, don’t cry for me Argentina when you’re making a 75k and teaching somewhere with 200k invested in that learning.  If your passion is historical Indonesian culture, you should at least be prepared to accept that it won’t afford you the lifestyle you may covet 10-40 years later. 

    I suppose you and I run in very different circles then, or perhaps we just perceive common complaints in very different manners. I don’t place strict values on degrees in a consequential manner even though our culture does, and that’s fine. Regardless of what one chooses to study, I think more people ought to read the works of various ideologies/thought from Nietzsche to Hume to Marx to Burke and beyond.

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  17. 1 minute ago, trauma babe said:

    This is amazing

    It’s not a critique but rather an observation. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I think a certain proportion of any population seeks meaning and enlightenment through an organization/ideology with dogmatic ideas. They aren’t wrong for doing so, and I don’t blame those who have rejected the Catholic Church in particular (I am one of them). However, I would never cast judgment upon those who find meaning from their church as long as they fully respect others’ civil liberties.

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  18. 12 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

    I don’t think anyone would have any issues with what anyone choses to study, if they weren’t being asked to cover the cost.  What people don’t like to hear is that someone willfully chose a degree without a plan to make money on the other side, and now has their hands out. 
     

     

    I don’t support forgiving all student loan debt since that’d clearly be regressive, and I know of very few people even asking for that unless they hold that view in private. I simply think there’s a positive downstream effect from low-cost programs within the fields Sack derided in public institutions. The same is true of STEM majors, but I think everyone agrees with that already. Also, every conservative guy I’ve ever known has either publicly or privately bashed liberal arts majors even if said LA major has never begged for anything. 

  19. 24 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

    They need to be funded by the only people who should get them.  Those who can pay for it out of pocket.  

    I believe proper funding of those programs benefits the rest of us more so than the degree-earners in question. It’s unfortunate that certain fields such as gender studies (which really shouldn’t be an undergraduate major) are currently steeped in dogma, but that’s to be expected when a certain proportion of the population seeks religion while rejecting the churches in which they were raised.

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  20. 10 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

    Any of the myriad that is ______ Studies.   Sociology.  Philosophy.  Psychology. Many other non STEM degrees.  

    Those degrees may be worthless for many, but they still need to be properly funded and maintained so that we don’t further devolve into a nation of philistines.

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  21. The book by Sam Harris? That's unsurprising, considering he's a complete charlatan. It's hilarious how he considers himself to be a philosopher since he merely obtained his BA in philosophy. He's also an Islamophobe, yet he'll dance around that accusation like a bitch any time someone accuses him of such. He and the majority of his fellow New Atheists are just dogmatists on the opposite pole of the religions they despise so much. He is everything wrong with the charlatan intellectual class in America today.

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