That’s the most 1980s/1990s coded right wing “you’ll never take my automatic rifles, ATF pig motherfuckers!” guy I’ve seen outside of historical footage in at least two decades

I thought all those guys went extinct after the FBI kinda just said “fuck it, let’s just arrest and harass Muslims” after 9/11

Glad(?) to see they live on

In the specific example of Zionism and young Jewish people, it is directly in their material interests to fully “buy in” on Zionism. Free land, free homes, subsidies… the price for admission is only your soul.

For liberals in walls: This applies to American colonists all the way back and, in a different sense, still applies today. All the “free land” is claimed now, but the descendants of those who stole land have profited greatly in a personal way. Thus it directly against the material interests of a large portion of white Americans to ever question much less oppose the status quo in the USA. This is not yet the case fully in Israel, but as they steal more Palestinian land (Gaza annexation seems fairly imminent. Not being a pessimist, just… I mean, look what Israel is doing and saying) they will also grow a population that moves from material interests being conquering land (early USA colonies and America broadly equivalent) to defending and demanding a never changing status quo where ever ceding “Israeli” land (or, likely, it’ll be framed cynically as “Jewish land”) is fully off the table- as it is now in the USA, Canada, etc.

I don’t think blame has anything to do with it, basically. If that’s the word you want to apply, then ok. But Zionists in Israel or with family there are acting primarily on material interests backed up secondarily with ideology that proclaims them to be righteously stealing land and wealth. (Same as other colonial societies)

Election 2028:

Trump runs for term 3 “for the meme”

The democrats put up that zoomer that thought Russia was still the USSR and Communist (Frost? I think his name name is)

Trump runs on promising to personally execute, live on tv, all the feds he fired over the past four years after the democrats say they will rehire them all.

The democrat runs on… restoring NATO… and promises to immediately declare war on Russia

I hang myself in my closet

Thanks for that

Yeah, that summary basically aligns with my understanding of how the extermination of the natives worked

(Replied to myself somehow the first time…)

Thanks for that

Yeah, that summary basically aligns with my understanding of how the extermination of the natives worked

Is there a source for that $300 per Native American claim?

Not that I doubt the US gov would pay for such bounties, of course they did, it’s just $300 in 1877 is like… a fuckload. It’s hard to exactly calculate due to the gold standard being abandoned and even if you arrive a direct calculation with inflation and everything factored in there it still doesn’t tell the whole story. Like $3000/yr in 1960 could provide for a household in NYC. It’s only like $30K/yr with inflation and obviously you need like 3-4x that to live comfortably in NYC. So the dollars are sort of irrelevant if you don’t factor in every piece of cost of living (something liberals/conservatives do all the time when you bring up wages, but that’s too much off on another topic)

Anyway, apparently $300 in 1877 is equivalent to about $9000 in today’s money. That seems like an entire year’s salary back then.

I don’t intend this to be callous or insensitive, but I would assume there would be so many bounty hunter assholes bringing in villages of dead natives that it would destroy the US government to pay that much out. Like these settlers were doing a full scale holocaust in the western states at that point with bodies piling up.

Yeah, well, unfortunately for the US population (and world… since people use the products worldwide) if the Nazi-asses say it just barely in a slightly ordering or angry tone, Apple and Google (and everyone else) will immediately drop on their knees and start sucking toe.

This is sort of ironically one of the few areas that private corporations, if they found an ounce of value in doing so, could stand up to the might of the US Gov. In most cases the government (of any country, really) can simply legally steamroll any non-cooperative private corporations. Pass a few laws if they deem it necessary, but Trump seems to be more on a vibes-based EO signing spree. So there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t just sign a napkin and hand it to Tim Apple saying “I order you to listen to KASH FUCKING DUMBASS “ONE BILLION DONKEYS” Patel”

Google will 100% fold immediately. I thought they did years ago, but might be misremembering. Pretty sure they actively aid the FBI when they “request” assistance unlocking devices. Apple, at least publicly, still refuses to help. I think now they even claim they can’t help at all even if they wanted to (which is the ideal standard, imo. Don’t even let the corpos have the ability to implement backdoors)

Apple might make a show of it. I only say this because they do sort of sell their products with the tagline of “we keep your shit secure. See, look, we even tell the US Gov to fuck off regarding “terrorism” suspects’ devices!”

I have basically no faith in their withstanding any actual amount of pushback though and without the backing of Google, MS, Meta, etc. to include any corporation that handles private, encrypted messaging of any sort… they will ultimately fail no matter if they resist or not. As a US corporation they are beholden by the laws of the US and, again, Kash “Donkeys in the Walls!” Patel strikes me as a “man” with so many chips on his shoulders that… well, I don’t know the metaphor there. He’s a very stupid person and also immoral, evil, however you wanna characterize him. So, he’d absolutely strong arm if necessary. Normally something I’d support from the gov (arresting corpo scum), but of course they’d only do so to advance the worst policies ever.

You should pursue university if you have any aspirations at all of working within science, tech, etc. The undergraduate degree is basically just “high school 2.0” at this point (in the US). Almost meaningless as far as education goes, but required to move on to master’s and PhD programs.

No matter how shitty things get (and they will absolutely continue to get shittier for as long as Americans remain as reactionary as “we” are) education should always be emphasized above all else for young people. For everyone really, but especially the young.

All leftist movements of note have had academics, thinkers, educated people in their core who went on to be leaders. This education doesn’t have to formal, although speaking anecdotally, I find it far easier to learn “tough” subjects (science, maths) within the confines of a university-type system. Other things can be learned on my own by reading and interacting with others who have read the same material.

The people for which it becomes a “question” in my mind would be those unsure of their vocational desires. If everything was free, I would 100% say “send everyone to get undergrad degrees!” However, reality being what it is, I think there should be hesitancy considering the lifelong consequences of massive debt. Unfortunately these are both individual decisions and, in my opinion, decisions impossible for a 16-18 year old to make. Yet our society forces them to make them regardless and holds them personally responsible… for the rest of their lives.

Even with the massive debt issue looming, I always lean towards “Fuck it! Education is always good!” Even just a generic liberal arts education or pursuing something like philosophy. You do gain a lot of experience and perspective you’d otherwise be denied just by being in a university with other students from all over. Even if you try to remain a recluse or focus on only studies, you will be forced almost by accident to learn something new about other people (which is of course a big reason conservatives have always hated universities. Not for “being liberal or leftist.” They hate people connecting on a human level and learning that we’re all the same.)

There is always the option of learning a trade skill. HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc. Not glamorous jobs, but absolutely necessary for the existence of society as we know it, and often well-paid once you get some experience. Impossible to automate or just “delete” away as well. They’re also traditionally unionized more heavily (well, not HVAC). Who knows, maybe you could help unionize a non-unionized company.

I can say as someone who has chosen both paths (well “chosen” isn’t the word… “lack of making a choice” leading to “well, guess this is what I’ll do then…”) that I wish I had known what I wanted in HS and had pursued university right away. But that also just isn’t who I was or am. While it’s easy to think “that’s the most efficient path to “success”” (meaning highest compensation) it also wasn’t realistic for me. I’ve always loved learning new stuff, anything from hands-on to book learning. I enjoyed learning how compressors work, and I enjoyed repairing/replacing them (among many other things, of course). I enjoyed learning electrical theory and then working on troubleshooting and repairing circuits all the way from small devices up to industrial sized cooling systems. I loved calculus, biology, chemistry (I majored in biology for my undergrad… much later in life than most students). I love learning but get incredibly bored once it goes from learning to working (terrible combo for most jobs).

I don’t know what to tell young people who are like I was. People with the capacity to go on and learn anything pretty much but ultimately lacking any real motivation or “reason” to do… anything at all. I want to say “it’ll work out.” “Just do whatever makes you happy at the time.” I don’t know if that’s true though… it did “work out” for me. Yet I know a solid dozen people not too much unlike myself for whom it did not work out. I think that’s why I lean towards “just go to university if you can.” It’s the least risky of the gambles. Unless you know for a fact that you want to work in something like plumbing, which of course I encourage all young people to learn all the trade skills that you can, just get a taste of it and see what you think. But if you don’t want to do that, and you want the best chance at a decent paying job later down the line, university, getting a degree, getting more degrees on your degrees, is the path as things stand currently.

Am I missing it or does the quote NOT mention the most important thing. You know… Mission accomplished? (Edit: They quote from him. The implication is he’s still alive and well. Not sure why that was not explicitly stated in such an article… but whatever)

Speaking fully generically about a wide, wide range of things: If you’re gonna do something, do it right. If you got like a 1cm diameter hole in drywall that needs repaired, you don’t just throw a bucket of drywall “mud” at the wall and hope it fills in properly. No, you get your mud, you get your tools, putty knives and such, you get in there and do the job right. You make sure that hole is plugged and it’ll never come loose or be an otherwise weak spot in the wall. Otherwise, don’t bother! It just makes the job harder for the next guy!

No, trust me, I get it.

Maybe I am doing some sort of circular cope or something myself. I have spent a lot of time (too much…) considering how much I should “care” that liberals only care about the dogshit when their face is rubbed in it. When the dog has actually been shitting all over the carpet for years and they never cared.

Part of me thinks “Finally! Welcome!” But then I see they have no actual push back. They just want the spectacle, I suppose, of pointing out the obvious. Then I go “Ok, well, that’s still better… than not? I guess?”

Either way it feels incredibly shitty because no one with any amount of institutional power seems to care about the rhetoric at the core of the movement. I am absolutely fine and happy if they call out Nazis doing hate symbology in public… with the condition that they recognize those symbols are directly tied back to the laws they want to pass (and have passed).

Some libs “get it” to an extent. Many still seem incredibly shortsighted and only focused on Trump. He seems to be self-aware of this (maybe giving him too much credit though) and that’s why he leans into the third term thing repeatedly. Give them a spectacle and something to obsess over… something that isn’t analyze any of his executive orders, stated goals, laws he wants, etc. Not a unique analysis there either by me.

Honestly all feels a bit “lib-bait”

They keep talking about third term which drives libs crazy (just wait till the libs figure out there are worse people than Trump…). We only even have limits for presidents because the same libs, right wingers, whined and pissed themselves after the country elected the least-shitty president 4 times. If the president is good… who cares. Let them stay 50 years. I don’t understand the term limit shit. If they think it means the next republican won’t be a Nazi … bad news, guys! The democrats and republicans are both Nazi parties! “Oops! All Nazi!”

And as far as the salute goes. Yes, doing a Nazi salute is (obviously, no shit) bad.

Giving Nazi speeches, believing in their hearts Nazi/fascist rhetoric, passing Nazi laws, etc. is the actual problem though. And they’ve been pretty openly doing this for years, decades even. It just seems, no other word I can think of, “liberal” to focus on the unavoidable aesthetic and ignore the fundamental, meaningful day to day stuff.

It just seems to me to set this unobtainable standard of “Oh, now they’re Nazis!” It doesn’t really matter if Trump walks in wearing a literal SS uniform. The right is just gonna say “Oh, but…!” “Wow, I can’t believe you think…” and liberals will back off every time they are presented with any way out, even the most obviously ridiculous path out. They’ll take it. Look to how they refuse to call the Elon one (which was 0% chance NOT a Nazi salute) what it is. Because he gave them a path out of it. Another day to cope and pretend it isn’t already here… and has been for a long time.

If they’re waiting to see the skulls on the caps, well, maybe that day never arrives. My point is: that doesn’t fucking matter. The SS would still be one of the most evil groups in history even if they wore rainbow sweatsuits all the time. Yeah, the skull is a bit “on the fucking nose” but their actions and their rhetoric was evil. The caps are a symbol of that. The salute is a symbol. That symbol can be there or not and it doesn’t matter.

I feel like I’m repeating myself a bunch, but just trying to make it clear. Hate symbols are bad because of what they are symbolic of. Not just because “oh no! Evil thing!” I kinda thought this was obvious, but the way lib brains work… makes me wonder.

(And even while I write this I also think “Holy fuck… they’re just doing the goddamn thing.” So, I’m not placing myself as immune. I do try to “check” myself sometimes though. Bannon endorses murdering trans people and kicking out immigrants… yeah, of course he’s a Nazi. This shouldn’t be shocking to me or anyone else)

Again, while I would like to be hopeful… I really can’t express enough how much I genuinely think they would absolutely push the button. I think a lot of these people are so wrapped up in their ideology (look how Trump is just straight up breaking shit he doesn’t understand. Sometimes even accidentally doing good stuff) and they’re so lost in some fantasy world resulting from like 60 straight years of neoliberal and libertarian jerkoff sessions that they are detached enough and/or deranged enough to do it. Like true radical thought processes of “No, I’d rather be dead than…” insert whatever situation is happening or they imagine is happening. Like if China is just steamrolling every single US Navy vessel within 1000km of China’s shores (which, btw, I personally think is justified. The US would certainly never tolerate the opposite. A Chinese aircraft carrier just setting up anchor 1000km from Hawaii)… I dunno. Maybe the US takes that. That’s the one situation I could see restraint happening.

Any sort of perceived “encroachment” on US territory becomes much more certain in my mind. The “losing abroad” situation also relies on their mindset which, if you listen to them, is basically “Wow, how could China dare have planes and ships in the South CHINA Sea?!”

If their actions follow their ideology and statements… they really do see China having sovereignty and expressing it in much (MUCH) less overt ways than the US does as an affront to the US. I can’t read their minds, but their words certainly indicate that anything China does feels like an existential threat to them and must be responded to.

Unfortunately I see this sentiment escalating and not deescalating. The US media diet is just “Bad things because China china china Russia! China china china cuba russia China Venezuela Iran china china china” 24/7 non stop. The politicians who you’d think would know that the media is bullshit and only exists to help them do evil shit would realize like “Ok, yeah. I want to fuck China over, but… we can’t do this thing.” and yet, I don’t think many of them realize it. They eat the propaganda and gobble it down the same as normal Americans with no political power. Everyone in charge here is a legitimate fucking moron. And we’re only slated to get dumber (less educated)…

That can all be true, and I don’t really disagree, and yet…

Well let me just state some “facts” for no particular reason

A ton of US citizens rely on programs they’re proposing cutting (not talking about the military. Yes people rely on that but… 🤷‍♂️. Give them cash to not work. I don’t care). Imagine this purely fictional world where millions of people potentially are teetering… then shoved. They know who did it. Elon, Thiel, Trump, etc. I would think “being alive” would be a large part of this world they want… alive to “enjoy” it. Hard to do if… well… free country. Free speech. I’m so free to say the thing…

I assume you meant win not when

While we can all hope that is the case… I think you misunderstand what nukes are there for. In the US’ case anyway.

There’s no real strategy to the nukes… it’s just “attack us and we’re losing? Nuke. So don’t even think about it.” That’s the entire concept of mutually assured destruction. Nuclear armed nations with properly hardened nukes (which the US absolutely has and China, I assume, has equivalent nukes. In the ground, under the sea, on stand by for planes as well) all exist under the constant implicit and also explicit threat of what I wrote above. They are called deterrence missiles in the US. Deterrence against other nuclear armed nations even thinking about a first strike nuke or invasion.

I suppose the only “what if” is “what if the US loses horribly abroad. But the mainland isn’t attacked by nukes (or something else) and there is no invasion?” Maybe that’s what you meant?

It’s still plausible to me that the US president smashes that button. We aren’t exactly known for having sane, rational people in that position. But that’s about the only scenario I can see direct US/China confrontation without nuclear exchange. If the US fucks around with, I dunno, Taiwan and immediately China shuts it down. Maybe the US takes the L. Still, over the long term if such a conflict begins… nuclear exchange seems inevitable. From the US side starting it due to losing.

Absolutely not gonna happen

Although if reporters aren’t asking “Do you mean THE MILITARY MILITARY or all the other shit?” then they’re failing to do their jobs.

8% reduction in soldiers, arms production, etc.

Or that remains the same- and 8% of VA doctors, etc. are fired.

Defense budget doesn’t include the VA, btw, but we all know it’s suddenly going to. Magically.

But, you know, Inshallah he does manage to cut the DoD. I doubt it! Highly! But hey… ok…

I actually proposed this plan (definitely not uniquely but whatever- still counts!) for the last… decade now. Just cut the budget repeatedly for two decades and it will starve the MIC (in theory) and does so in a controlled wind down from the insanity since WWII.

Of course “my plan” also called for diverting those resources immediately, plus adding on top, to expanding Medicare to everyone. Of course cuts are not required in order to fund Medicare, but if thr Nazi ass dems insist then, hey, cut the DoD in half, push the money to healthcare! Blammo!

I remain doubtful on that front considering the result of forcing a war with China… doesn’t really matter because we’re just all dead then. Like the entire world.

Yeah, “proxy wars” and such. China isn’t taking that bait though. The US keeps whining on about Taiwan, but I see zero evidence of an “aggressive, forced” takeover of the island. (And yes, takeover is loosely used there. If the idea of states and sovereignty is “real” then China “invading Taiwan” is impossible. Yes, I understand… everyone knows what I mean. “Liberals in the walls” moment)

Hope you aren’t American or Western European… got bad news for you on the “government lies” part

It’s not that I doubt they want to do that. I just… Iraq is half the world away. No one in the US sees what was done there or not done (rebuilding-wise).

If they promise infrastructure in the US, and it’s clearly not happening next year, 2 years, 4 years from now, what happens?

I can’t be alone thinking there is a bottom for all this government graft, corruption, etc. At some point something has to give… I’m not saying it’s anywhere near there yet, but I just have this feeling that Musk is going to explode this is in his face because he’s kind of just a dumb guy. Dumber than most of the others. Someone in the background, probably Thiel also dumb but knows to kinda stfu a little, I can see absolutely grabbing all this stuff though.

That’s rather hopeful

To avoid just being a pure cynic here: what have you seen thus far to indicate that the US plans to re-industrialize?

If Trump was doing tariffs AND a massive “New Deal” style government funding, new department-creating, infrastructure building, industry building bill (all of it) thus forcing US industry to be rebuilt, then I could see this. But he’s just throwing tariffs out there and, I dunno, hoping industry magically is rebuilt? As someone who lives in “the rust belt” it’s called that for a reason. That shit ain’t coming back without billions if not trillions of dollars of direct investment into rail, manufacturing plants, mining (iron, probably coal for steel. Unless modern steel can be made without it).

It just seems like Trump thinks you can use the stick and these places will come back on their own. I’m not sure if be understands the scale of what re-industrialization of the US looks like. He and the republicans would have to be willing to just dump infinite resources into the sector, not unlike China, give it a couple decades, and then it might work.

As far as Musk goes, I think he overplayed himself. I said before somewhere (maybe this site I don’t remember) that he’s clearly being used by Trump to take the blame. As he is doing now. He has no legitimacy or protections under the laws as they exist. As soon as Trump is tired of his toy Elon could be gone in an instant and considering he’s violated countless laws… I’m not sure what the dumbass is even trying to do in the end. He took on incredible personal risk for a potential, but highly unlikely, personal reward. I dunno I don’t have a crystal ball obviously, but I just don’t see things “being great” for Musk a couple years from now. His spiraling drug addiction mixed with his egotism and apparent inability to read rooms. I do agree he’s a much bigger “threat” (hate that word for such a loser) than libs are currently willing to accept.

If only a hero of the Mario’s Mansion, Shinzo Abe, variety were out there… it would really pave over this annoyance. Not solve anything, but definitely pave over one of the most annoying bumps.

Well, this will drive annoying libs further insane. They’ve been calling her a Russian agent for like 8 years

Honestly tulsi is probably one of the least offensive picks Trump has made… of course that bar is buried deep in the inner circle of Hell