gearhog

Blinken blinks. The collapse of US dominance accelerates. "We do not support Taiwan independence." Before: https://twitter.com/rishhikesh/status/1670293502973067264?s=20 After: https://twitter.com/bpolitics/status/1670754227323535360?s=20

I'm just beginning to listen to RFK Jr as he's become popular of late. It's a bit of a chore, but so far it's interesting to be able to listen to someone from the other side and not immediately feel put off. Not that he could without being shot, but I'd like to see someone with his demeanor and common sense take on DC.

Some back of the napkin ballpark 4th grade math: A 4% increase in the top 10% income lower threshold of around $14,500 a month = +$580 A 7.5% increase in the bottom 50% upper threshold of about $5800 a month = +$435 Would you say income inequality is increasing or decreasing under Biden? Bills are measured in dollars, not percentages of income.

Exactly. And it's not just DC. Your average socialist wringing their hands over wealth inequality fail to realize they will never defeat cronyism as long as their agendas, ideologies, and movements can easily be purchased and co-opted.

The President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief is a fucking moron. https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1670168576571965446?s=20https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1670168576571965446?s=20

Keep up, Brother.

While not in my family, I too, have seen in the local rural community at a rapidly increasing rate. I do have compassion for these young people, but I think they have an unjustified confidence in their explanation as to why this is happening to them. Gender is not a spectrum. There may be a spectrum within each gender such as men with some feminine characteristics or females with some masculine qualities, and many children struggle with this concept. The feel they can't compete with earlier social ideals of what the ideal man and woman should be. Comparison is the thief of joy. But with the advent of social media, status in a crowded space can otherwise be achieved simply through being different, extreme, or proclaiming oneself a victim for engagement in a society where they otherwise wouldn't be noticed. The outpouring of online sympathy and affection for anyone who might be experiencing a "tough time" with life only encourages the idea that we don't dictate our circumstances, but are a victim of it, and that victim status yields benefits such as the ability to emotionally manipulate. Our kids have been told our sexual ideas and impulses are to be shamelessly acted upon while demanding acceptance for it. It's a slippery slope. Where does it go next? Cliches aren't cliches because they are wrong. Sure, I want people to be happy. But kids who go through the transgender process can only convince themselves they're happy until the social media fad and fashion fades, and they no longer receive attention heaped upon them, and after the permanent irreparable harm has been done. In a few years, I predict a suicide rate that will grow exponentially. These children, and most encouraging adults, do not understand that this phenomena, which has never occurred at this rate in history, is an infectious idea imposed on them by their online social environment. It's not entirely an organic physiological/psychological process within one's own body. There's a deliberate organized campaign of outside influence and manipulation. Nature doesn't care. If a person chooses to abruptly bring an end to their own genetic lineage by consciously rendering themselves a sterile human, is that a bad thing? That's just Darwinism playing out, right? I care because I know the nation and society I was born into was made great through the flourishing of humans and human productivity enabled by traditional family values. When 20% percent of young people identify as LGBTQ, we're not facing a population stagnation, we're facing population age distribution so top heavy it will collapse upon itself. Similar to COVID, this in an infection of an idea. This is an old video that I've often thought about. Perfectly explains many things we're seeing in our culture. Especially at 9:09.

authorized to use unit funds to....

How are they disadvantaged/persecuted? If the DoD has official programs to recruit, retain, and promote certain groups over another, is that not an advantage? Check out the Joint Base Langley-Eustis website. https://www.jble.af.mil/Resources/Breaking-Barriers-Alliance-BBA-/ Air Force Money and manpower are being expended to promote and host several events over the course of an entire month to promote one group over another. That's persecution? https://twitter.com/usairforce/status/1666491502426480642?s=20 Is that persecution? If someone disagrees with your opinion on tolerance, they're just an asshole. Can you spot the irony? When you say you have a lot of recent first hand experience with the issue, what specifically do you mean? I mean no disrespect or ill-intent, but it does beg the question: Are you a member of the LGBTQ community? If so, that would help in understanding your position.

(Most) people will live up to, or down to, the generally accepted standards set for them. If it is someone's personal policy to accept people how they are with no qualifications, they effectively have no standards or expectations. Do you not have any measures of acceptable behavior for the people you surround yourself with? If a person is willing to tolerate absolutely anything, their opinion is literally of no consequence, and they render themselves an ineffectual. Ineffectuals are currently being railroaded. "Give an inch, they take a mile". I would agree that people should be free to make any decision for themselves that does not adversely affect others. But I need not condone or endorse it nor should I be censored for speaking against it. Granting an advantage to someone on the basis of gender identity adversely effects those who aren't obsessed with this latest trend. And one would have to be blind to not see the physical harm being done to young people, and the indescribable harm that is to come to them should society as whole continue accept anyone "as they are".

"And those who identify as such..." Does the DoD have a list of qualifying criteria for gender identification? Personal morality notwithstanding, why would anyone not identify as (whatever) in order to be given all the protection, preferential treatment, and elevated status the DoD is pushing if the qualifying criteria to do so is individually subjective? Then at the end of one's service, "they" could claim gender dysphoria as a service connected disability. There would be no downside apart from the shame, loss of dignity, and reputation for being human trash, which is no longer a deterrent for many, and often a prerequisite for leadership selection.

Russian propaganda warning. https://www.tijd.be/politiek-economie/belgie/algemeen/cia-meldde-belgie-dat-oekraine-wellicht-nord-stream-saboteerde/10473737.html

https://twitter.com/ricwe123/status/1662190322468700170?s=20

With this latest whistleblower, I estimate that there have been 69 million allegations and speculations from people "in the know" about the existence of aliens and alien craft. Yet not one single, solitary shred of proof in a time where our highest leadership stores top secret documents in closets, garages, and home offices. That's some amazing infosec.

Just in 2 months, several more countries are cozing up to China economically. Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kenya, etc... Today, Brazil president visits China. Calls to end Dollar dominance. https://www.ft.com/content/669260a5-82a5-4e7a-9bbf-4f41c54a6143 France. Macron recently visited China. Encourages Europe to associations with US. “The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” Macron said in the interview. “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” he said. https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-china-america-pressure-interview/ The world is changing, and not in our favor.

https://twitter.com/NATO/status/1628687961477750790?s=20

Pay attention. There will be more stories like this if we don't fix our shit. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/china-says-it-will-set-up-yuan-clearing-arrangements-brazil-2023-02-07/ https://thecradle.co/article-view/21245/the-big-stiff-russia-iran-dump-the-dollar-and-bust-us-sanctions

Let me know if you find one. I'm not sympathetic to Russia. I don't care about nor have any interest in Russia. I hope their political system fails. I'm concerned about holding my own country to account and ensure that we maintain some semblance of being an objective force for good, and not lies, deceit, and corruption like the govt we're funding. So you're just going to completely ignore my questions about what Russian influence you're concerned about? I wonder why. LOL. Oh really? I immediately thought of this when I read that. I'm not just creating these concerns out of thin air. I've done a little research before I've decided if my concerns were worth having. If anyone bothered to look at what occurred in Ukraine around 2014, this current crisis is not some noble endeavor to spread freedom and democracy. Around that time, Ukraine was being offered trade and economic incentives by the EU. Russia countered with an economic package of their own. President Yanukovych, who was elected in large part by Eastern Ukrainians who align with Russia. He began to indicate he favored the Russian deal. Obviously, this would mean a major loss to the EU and the US as they were counting on the economic and energy resources a country like Ukraine would bring to the struggling EU. Yanukovich had also signed a long term Sevastopol Naval Base lease with Russia. None of this good for the West. Coincidentally around that time, pro-EU and Western Ukrainian nationalist protests broke out. They became violent and a coup took place. There were attacks on the LDPR aligned Ukrainians in the East by nationalist forces from the West. Poroshenko was installed and Eastern Ukraine was threatened with being barred from participation in elections. He also began negotiations with the West to remove the LDPR, terminate the Sevastopol naval base lease and lease it to NATO. Russia said "No." Invaded and took Crimea without firing a shot. Russia was assisting LDPR in the east. They won battles against the Western Ukr. Then the UNSC sactioned Minsk agreements were to give LDPR autonomy, create a ceasefire, and remove foreign assistance from both sides. But those agreements were not adhered to, likely by either side. Conflict continued and a stalemate ensued. The West was getting impatient. In early 2021, Ukraine nationalists had a massive mobilization on the contact lines to take Eastern LDPR territories by force. They were receiving help from the US and NATO. Russia viewed this as a further expansion of NATO and began building forces on the border with Ukraine. You know the rest. Uh.. yeah. Exactly. We shouldn't have been incurring any of these costs. If NATO didn't fund a Ukrainian civil war and the installation of a pro-Western government hell bent on NATO membership, none of those families and soldiers would have been apart, and we'd have saved billions.

It's still spending. What Russian influence? What were they influencing that you are so concerned about? Were you worried that they may be experiencing economic growth by exporting resources from their own patch of dirt? Were they interfering in our elections resulting in fraudulent outcomes? Were they parking missiles just outside the borders of the US? As someone has said before, they're spinning their wheels in the mud fighting the poorest and most corrupt country in Europe...and you fear them enough to sell out your financial future? We spend billions on deployments, so what's a few tens of billions more? I don't understand how that makes sense to you when you're trying to assuage anyone's concerns about spending.

I'll give you a B- for effort, but the content is rambling, disjointed, and non-coherent. I'm glad you're trying to explain your position as I suggested, but it kinda sucks. No one is going to read what you wrote and come away with a clear understanding what your primary argument is. If you have a question about my position or want me to clarify something you didn't like, I am more than happy to give you an honest answer, but I honestly can't quite make out what you're whining about. Are you just mad about my very plain and easy to understand argument that I don't want us sending hundreds of billions we don't have, to escalate a conflict that costs us more than it helps us, just to expand access to wealth and resources by fighting an over-hyped boogeyman? Fine. Go ahead, be mad about. It doesn't change anything. Try posting some links, news articles, or opinions from someone who actually knows how to write. Maybe we can have rational debate over them. Otherwise, you'll just continue to repeat yourself and your poor opinion of me. No one cares about that. Me least of all.

Maryland Senator submits bill make the age of consent to vaccination 14 years old, without parents' permission. However... if the parent desires the child be vaccinated, the 14 year old child cannot refuse. Sort of has an evil vibe to it. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2023RS/bills/sb/sb0378f.pdf

Exactly. It's just censorship. Some here believe they're smart enough to know misinformation when they see it, but large swaths of the public are not. Lawman thinks he is protecting people from scary ideas by silencing the idea rather than educating the reader. The only correct responses to bad ideas are good ideas. If you are able to adequately articulate and support your superior position, my position wouldn't even garner an acknowledgement. However, when another position has merit, it is a threat. If your motive is to "Win" rather than find the truth, you have to attempt to censor the opposing argument. "Shut up", "Stop spreading misinformation", "You should be silenced.", "You're peddling a pro-Russian narrative.", "I'm going to find your IP address and dox you." Those are examples of attempted censorship, I'm not quoting anyone. Lawman is slowly embodying the very things he hates about Russia. You may only speak the government approved narrative, lest ye be guilty of crimes against the state. I asked earlier in this thread, "How can so many have been fooled into supporting tyrannical leadership?" It's rhetorical because it's obvious how. @Lawman when you were googling the logical fallacies I clued you into, did you run across "Ad hominen"? It's commonly used to mean attacking the person, not the issue. But it can also mean attacking the source, not the information. If you really want to be competitive in the battleground of ideas, you're going to have to do a little better by coming well equipped to explain why you're correct rather than taking the easy route and just calling any of us who disagree pro-Russian.

You're flailing, my friend. It's embarrassing to watch.

Right. I should have said I paid a higher amount of taxes, not a higher tax rate.