FAFO

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Occasionally, I have to be "that guy," so I will be that guy.

It still shocks me how many of you attempt to have dialogue with these bad faith, degenerate assholes. I'm convinced you just like seeing your thoughts in digital print. Or hearing the sound of your own voice, or something.

For as much as we criticize Democratic Party messaging here, many of you make the same mistakes. You don't converse with fascists and bad faith actors. You just legitimize them in the process. You talk to them. Because the alternative to "talk" is potentially war, which only the very worst among us want. But you do not converse. If you understand the distinction.

So you don't meet them on their terms, which is conversation. You throw them off balance. You ask why they hate the country. You ask why they hate children. You ask why they hate prosperity. You ask why they hate the Constitution. Etc. You don't debate them on the merits of their arguments. They'll garble back some nonsense. And as long as we still have a court of public opinion in this country, it will be the judge. If they decide some complete nonsense about how the Constitution "actually allows us to do whatever the fuck we want" great, then so be it. But you don't play on their terms.

People are emotional. Facts don't matter. So you use what you have to turn emotion on your side. To appeal to that lizard brain receptor. You don't have to appeal to the mom in suburban Philadelphia who is worried about illegal migrant hordes raping her children. She's an idiot. She's gone. But you show the rest of available swing voters how our most basic national values are under attack by allowing the opposition to be the complete unhinged assholes they are. And once the economy tanks like a stone dropped into a lake, as it surely will, you capitalize.
This^
And I find it easier to simply block them or super-ignore, etc. Don't even talk to them much less have a convo or dialogue with them. It's like trying to have dialogue with Trump himself. Why bother? He/they are all idiots and the convo goes nowhere.
Also, agree about the economy. It'll suck for everybody, sure, but at the end of the day the only way out will be to tax the rich like the Eisenhower era; bring back strong Unions; etc. Other than that, the only way out will be to storm the Bastille, civil war (the one they want anyway); or some other civil unrest which simply can't be denied.
But I think if the dollar and/or economy gets so bad, and for long enough to where even the most hardened trumper can't claim "it's the Biden economy", then the tide will finally turn.
 
Occasionally, I have to be "that guy," so I will be that guy.

It still shocks me how many of you attempt to have dialogue with these bad faith, degenerate assholes. I'm convinced you just like seeing your thoughts in digital print. Or hearing the sound of your own voice, or something.

For as much as we criticize Democratic Party messaging here, many of you make the same mistakes. You don't converse with fascists and bad faith actors. You just legitimize them in the process. You talk to them. Because the alternative to "talk" is potentially war, which only the very worst among us want. But you do not converse. If you understand the distinction.

So you don't meet them on their terms, which is conversation. You throw them off balance. You ask why they hate the country. You ask why they hate children. You ask why they hate prosperity. You ask why they hate the Constitution. Etc. You don't debate them on the merits of their arguments. They'll garble back some nonsense. And as long as we still have a court of public opinion in this country, it will be the judge. If they decide some complete nonsense about how the Constitution "actually allows us to do whatever the fuck we want" great, then so be it. But you don't play on their terms.

People are emotional. Facts don't matter. So you use what you have to turn emotion on your side. To appeal to that lizard brain receptor. You don't have to appeal to the mom in suburban Philadelphia who is worried about illegal migrant hordes raping her children. She's an idiot. She's gone. But you show the rest of available swing voters how our most basic national values are under attack by allowing the opposition to be the complete unhinged assholes they are. And once the economy tanks like a stone dropped into a lake, as it surely will, you capitalize.
I have a different perspective when it comes to engaging with posters like Silence and Ram. ..

First, they contribute to the board by sharing the latest views and "news" emanating from the ooze in the right wing fever swamp

Second, it provides an opportunity to correct the record with the actual facts

Third, there may be some lurkers who may be duped and influenced by the misinformation being spread. Confronting the misinformation may help some lurkers avoid being duped.
 
I have a different perspective when it comes to engaging with posters like Silence and Ram. ..

First, they contribute to the board by sharing the latest views and "news" emanating from the ooze in the right wing fever swamp

Second, it provides an opportunity to correct the record with the actual facts

Third, there may be some lurkers who may be duped and influenced by the misinformation being spread. Confronting the misinformation may help some lurkers avoid being duped.
This is also a good take.
I guess I just don’t have the patience.

However, if you do engage with them, I’d like it better if you “talk at them” like Mendo suggests instead of trying to engage them in some semblance of a decent conversation… which in itself sort of lends a bit of credibility to their side. Instead, I’d rather see someone give them a good solid beat down of a talking to, the way Manhattanheel used to do to the dookies on the old IC basketball board back in the day.

But like I say, I just don’t have the time, energy or inclination to engage with idiocy like that. Even if giving them a good lashing.
 
This is also a good take.
I guess I just don’t have the patience.

However, if you do engage with them, I’d like it better if you “talk at them” like Mendo suggests instead of trying to engage them in some semblance of a decent conversation… which in itself sort of lends a bit of credibility to their side. Instead, I’d rather see someone give them a good solid beat down of a talking to, the way Manhattanheel used to do to the dookies on the old IC basketball board back in the day.

But like I say, I just don’t have the time, energy or inclination to engage with idiocy like that. Even if giving them a good lashing.
Sometimes you have to set them up to knock them down. "You catch more flies with sugar..."
 
Sometimes you have to set them up to knock them down. "You catch more flies with sugar..."
Always true. I’m just old and impatient and no energy to engage with the idiots. However I do like it when you guys will take them down a peg or two with clear, factual, persuasive arguments for the good side. But I like it even better when somebody does it with a solid tongue lashing that leaves marks on em.
 
Always true. I’m just old and impatient and no energy to engage with the idiots. However I do like it when you guys will take them down a peg or two with clear, factual, persuasive arguments for the good side. But I like it even better when somebody does it with a solid tongue lashing that leaves marks on em.
The risk if you pull their pants down and give 'em a good spanking is that they will run away and then I lose my source for becoming aware of the latest "news" from earth 2.

I don't want to visit Breitbart, Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, 8chan,and Stormfront to get the latest from earth 2 :(
 
So, if you hire a nanny or an au pair you have "disdain" for your children? My children turned out just fine.

Pete should have never taken the position of Trans Sec. in 2021 if he knew he was going to take off two months during the supply chain crisis or at least disclosed this to the Senate during his confirmation. He did go on a tour supporting the movie during his break but I'll have to find it when I have the time. I remember there was a funny segment on Gutfeld about it.
 
So, if you hire a nanny or an au pair you have "disdain" for your children? My children turned out just fine.

Pete should have never taken the position of Trans Sec. in 2021 if he knew he was going to take off two months during the supply chain crisis or at least disclosed this to the Senate during his confirmation. He did go on a tour supporting the movie during his break but I'll have to find it when I have the time. I remember there was a funny segment on Gutfeld about it.
So Pete took paternity leave from August to October in 2021 during the supply chain crisis that Trump left the Biden administration.

No snark... Please educate me and list the catastrophes that occurred during those two months that Pete could have prevented.

No snark... , please educate me and list the measures that the current Sec. of Transportation is taking to prevent supply chain catastrophes that we may suffer with Trump's willy-nilly on again off again on again tariffs
 
Pete should have never taken the position of Trans Sec. in 2021 if he knew he was going to take off two months during the supply chain crisis or at least disclosed this to the Senate during his confirmation.
"Senators, I must disclose that my husband and I are hoping to adopt. I must also disclose that we will soon receive 24 hours notice of a placement, and unbeknownst to us, it will be premature twins. Further, I must disclose that soon after the adoption, the twins will contract a respiratory illness, require hospitalization, and one will be on a ventilator for a week. I feel it is my duty to be fully transparent about these things that are going to happen that I don't know are going to happen yet."
 
So, if you hire a nanny or an au pair you have "disdain" for your children? My children turned out just fine.

Pete should have never taken the position of Trans Sec. in 2021 if he knew he was going to take off two months during the supply chain crisis or at least disclosed this to the Senate during his confirmation. He did go on a tour supporting the movie during his break but I'll have to find it when I have the time. I remember there was a funny segment on Gutfeld about it.
You remember a funny Greg Gutfeld segment?

That's newsworthy in itself.
 
The ultra-fast-fashion company Shein spent years carefully curating its corporate identity. Its apparent goal was to create a brand born from social media, distinct from any single place but whose products were everywhere. Shein has been more successful in some aspects of this pursuit than in others. The company grew into a global online shopping juggernaut, thanks in large part to its extremely low prices. But its efforts to remain anonymous and inoffensive have been undone by allegations of labor abuses, environmental criticisms and, despite moving its headquarters to Singapore, persistent concerns about its Chinese ownership.

Its latest shape shift took place largely behind the scenes in Washington, DC, where the company took a sharp turn over the past few years into the world of MAGA. Many companies have shamelessly courted President Donald Trump, hoping to curry favor with a uniquely transactional American leader, but few appear to have gone as far as Shein. The company counts Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as a shareholder in its parent company, WIRED reported in February. Deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche, the second highest-ranking official at the Department of Justice, disclosed that Shein was previously one of his legal clients.

Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative (USTR) who serves as the president’s top adviser on matters related to international trade, also advised the company before joining the Trump administration, according to a former Shein employee as well as internal documents reviewed by WIRED. And a host of lobbyists drawn from the orbit of Trumpworld continue to push the company’s talking points across DC. Shein, which did not register hiring a single lobbyist until 2022, spent $3.9 million on federal lobbying last year, according to public records. In the first quarter of 2025, it has doled out $1.49 million.

...

But despite the company’s overtures, Trump has dealt Shein a series of devastating blows since returning to office. His administration imposed punishing tariffs on Chinese imports that threaten to erode the company’s price advantage and simultaneously moved to close a crucial trade loophole called the de minimis provision that allowed the ecommerce giant to flood the US with low-cost packages shipped into the country duty-free.


These unwelcome developments come as Shein has struggled in its bid to go public. It is now reportedly seeking a place on London’s rapidly shrinking stock exchange after being shut out of the US market. The company is under pressure from investors to slash its valuation to around $30 billion, a steep decline from a valuation of $100 billion in 2022, according to Bloomberg.
 
You know that little thing in your head that makes you careful what you say, who you talk to and how you talk to them? Mine broke when I was twelve.

Now that I am old, retired, bored, mostly limited to the house by a semi invalid wife and really, really stoned, this is about as exciting as it gets for me and offers no reason to change things.
 
You know that little thing in your head that makes you careful what you say, who you talk to and how you talk to them? Mine broke when I was twelve.

Now that I am old, retired, bored, mostly limited to the house by a semi invalid wife and really, really stoned, this is about as exciting as it gets for me and offers no reason to change things.
We have so much in common besides taste in music and politics...

I am old, I am retired, I'm somewhat limited by degenerative disc disease, but I no longer smoke pot because it is way too powerful so I just day drink :cool:
 
We have so much in common besides taste in music and politics...

I am old, I am retired, I'm somewhat limited by degenerative disc disease, but I no longer smoke pot because it is way too powerful so I just day drink :cool:
I lost my taste ( and developed some aversion) to drinking when I was being treated for throat cancer. I'll still sip an occasional good bourbon with my youngest. He's carrying on that tradition.

I enjoy the new stuff. I just bought an ounce that their lab analysis says is 41.9 % THCa. I like a bowl of that topped with frosting of virtually pure THCa. %-6 hits on that and a cup of coffee is a good way to start the day.
 
I lost my taste ( and developed some aversion) to drinking when I was being treated for throat cancer. I'll still sip an occasional good bourbon with my youngest. He's carrying on that tradition.

I enjoy the new stuff. I just bought an ounce that their lab analysis says is 41.9 % THCa. I like a bowl of that topped with frosting of virtually pure THCa. %-6 hits on that and a cup of coffee is a good way to start the day.
don't want to further derail this thread, but I am curious to know if you have encountered the widow maker.

On a beach weekend with some college buddies years ago they talked me into smoking the widow maker. I took two tokes and was plastered in my chair for several hours. That was the day I threw the white towel into the ring.🥴
 
don't want to further derail this thread, but I am curious to know if you have encountered the widow maker.

On a beach weekend with some college buddies years ago they talked me into smoking the widow maker. I took two tokes and was plastered in my chair for several hours. That was the day I threw the white towel into the ring.🥴
I've heard of a strain called that and purportedly tried it. It wasn't anything remarkable and I have no clue if it's the same thing. Otoh, I've dabbled a bit longer and perhaps more broadly than some.
 
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