ViperMan

No. But is that really how you read my words? Or do you think I was providing important context in reference to the general milieu which was the political mayhem occurring from 2020 through 2021? They (the Democrats) sanctioned mayhem that Negatory turns a blind eye to every time he posts a one-sided accusation. Or attempts what-about-ism. Or when he invokes Jan 6th as an idol, pointing and proclaiming: "See! look here! It's the same! The Rs and the Ds both do it!" Do you think I was carrying water for the few who broke the law on Jan 6th? Or do you think I was putting it in juxtaposition with what was the actual violence that was allowed to take place Do you acknowledge or deny that there was a qualitative difference with which republicans and democrats reacted to violence and anarchy that was initiated by their own sides? Or do you think that was all in our heads? Am I imagining that? I seem to remember Pence refusing Trump's orders. I seem to remember no large scale right-wing violence or rioting. Maybe I'm in my Twitter bubble. I welcome you to pop it. But, you have to provide evidence.

I'm not sure what reporting you're looking at, but the shooter apparently was credibly engaged in a homosexual relationship with a same-sex individual who was "transitioning." Seems to me that latent homosexuality and the fact that he wasn't feeling accepted by a social movement that is growing in popularity - or rather rejected by a louder, and increasingly verbal group of right-wing people - is a likely motivating factor for this person taking his feelings and redirecting them outward in an act of extreme violence. Maybe they weren't in a relationship and the shooter was merely acting out of a perception that his friend needed his honor defended. It doesn't really matter. The fact is that people can have whatever upbringing you want, and can turn out poorly - the opposite is true as well. They can be raised by right-wing priests and turn out blue-haired nymphomaniacs. Or they can be raised by left-wing granola bars, and wind up Jehovah's witnesses. You and everyone else understands this. The sad part for all of us is that for a long time - a very long time - this country was getting along and moving in a great direction. Black culture was seemingly becoming less violent. Gays were winning (and have won) increased acceptance throughout all but the most backwater parts of our society. A generation of kids grew up playing together and not really caring about skin color or cultural differences, and so on and so on. Then, for whatever reason, that all seemed to change. I'm not sure why, but things were different. Not "I perceived that things were different," but actually different. Now, we are becoming less "liberal" and far less tolerant. I lament we are becoming less liberal (in the true sense of the word), but I think that becoming far less tolerant is probably good and necessary. I think it is largely due to forces on the Left that demanded ridiculous, insane, and frankly, deranged capitulations. See "men have periods / can become pregnant," "men should be allowed to compete in women's sports," "black people are hunted by cops," "COVID didn't leak from a lab," etc. Those are my priors and I think evidence supports all of them in varying degree. Jan 6th isn't happening dude. Sorry, it just isn't. It's not the Pearl Harbor or September 11th you wish it was. 25 years from now we're not going to be holding "Remember" ceremonies throughout our society. A few token dems might, but they'll be the only ones. In 69 years, we're not going to mark the "passing of the last survivor of the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol," except for maybe some future talking-head on MSNBC. What it was in objective reality was a massive gathering of right-wing individuals (that got wildly out of hand), but which was organized in RESPONSE to actual, government-sanctioned anarchy that was ushered in and actively encouraged by prominent left-wing leadership throughout multiple layers of our government. This includes presidential and vice-presidential candidates. It includes governors. It includes mayors. It includes senators. It includes congressmen and women. With our own eyes, we all saw the chaos begin to unfold starting in the Summer of 2020, and continue through to the election and inauguration of Joe Biden. It was the unstated TACTIC of the Democratic party, implemented in order to undermine Donald Trump. I'm not justifying Jan 6th, but let's also not pretend that it arose randomly and thus points at some underlying reality that the US is a KKK-style right-wing hellscape. That's all in your head dude. It happened because of COVID lock-downs and people getting bored. The dems saw an opportunity to re-focus this boredom into channels that applied pressure on fault lines within their many of their most favored political constituencies. They saw a political opportunity and capitalized on it. A cynical play for sure. You can see them trying the same playbook again, but it's not having quite the same success this time around. Probably because we're not all locked-down with nothing better to do...

I'll explain it. It's different because people on the right were calling for people to be doxxed for things that literally every sane person in the world agrees with - i.e. murdering people based on their beliefs is something that should not be tolerated. So yeah, let's dox those people in order to shame them and root out what is a sick and anti-social sect of people who for whatever reason seem to be gaining power in our country. On the other hand, people on the left were using doxxing as a means to impose a measure of social pressure and control on groups of people they would fear would speak out against their latest social fad / cause: all whites are racists, but Blacks cannot be racist; transgenderism is natural, etc, etc. In other words they're using doxxing to avoid having a conversation about what are controversial topics. In short, the right is using doxxing to preserve society and social norms. The left is using it to undermine society. See the difference? I will say fairly, that using doxxing to target bystanders (i.e. someone's family) is gross no matter what the circumstances. Sins of the father and all... And I'm not sure what your opinion is on nuclear weapons, but we wouldn't respond in-kind to NK with a bio or chem attack because we don't have those types of weapons anymore. But if NK used bio / chem in an appreciable way (not a couple shells here or there) that was going to turn the tide of battle in their favor, you better believe we'd pull out the nukes.

I'm mostly on board with you. I don't think the death penalty should be public though, as it lowers us and I think would delegitimize our justice system by making a spectacle out of it. That's not necessary. Philosophically I have no issue with the death penalty. I also don't think it needs to be a deterrent to be a just punishment. Holding "deterrence" as a requisite for applying the death penalty is adopting the Left's frame. The death penalty is about revenge. It's an eye for an eye. It's about extracting the maximum amount of justice on behalf of the person who can no longer exact it for themselves. It hasn't got anything to do with deterring crime IMO. If deterrence is a side effect for those who are so base as to need to be deterred from heinous acts, then fine, but that's a bonus. Practically, there are many instances where the justice system has fallen short, however. Making it the case that the application of the death penalty is historically fraught.

Not being flippant or justifying it, but the answer is violence. Look at history. What do you see?

@SpeedOfHeat, to your credit, there is actually quite a lot of truth in what you write here. It suggests you have more SA than some of your other posts indicate. You may be close to achieving a theory of mind for those on the right. You are 100% correct in that we (or I) don't care what Trump does at this point - within reason. And it's because of one thing: the massive institutional abuse of power that democrats have systematically engaged in during the past 10-15 years. It's not that it's directly about the "blue hairs" and the "nose rings" or all the other fill-in-the-blanks. It's about the fact that the democrats have embarked on an intentional project of Balkanizing the United States. And that project, is a greater threat to our way of life and future prosperity than anything one man is capable of doing. So yeah, I don't subscribe or endorse everything Trump does. It's just that what he's doing brings the US into alignment with our core values MORE than the left does. You don't agree. And I understand why you don't. You need to figure out why the right supports Trump. It's not SOLELY because he's a troll. The fact that his masterful trolling triggers many on the left is something I get to laugh at. It's kind of a bonus, but it's not the meat and potatoes. Oh, and was that meme being ironical? You do know that the whole "drink your own piss" thing came from Yoga, which is a practice many on the Left align with? i.e. drinking your own urine was considered a health practice by those on the Left. So it'd be funny if someone on the right turned it into a meme. Coming from someone on the Left is just kinda confusing.

It's less gross than what Pritzker is doing. And that's not a joke. So far this year, nearly 300 people have been killed in Chicago. And while that number is "down," I find it deeply cynical for people like him who prefer to survey the mayhem and rule in hell while attempting to deflect attention from their utter and total failure as the responsible parties, instead pointing to a cartoon depiction of Trump as the "real problem." I'm sure when your average south Chicagoan heads out of their hooch tonight to grab whatever they need for dinner, or the family, or whatever, that person will be far more worried about the likely criminal who isn't in jail vs. some made up concern about a meme. And that points at the real, underlying dynamic at work - not a tasteless meme. That's (one of) Trump's secret weapons he uses against the Left. The point of memes like this is that Trump can point at something true - that Chicago is a wasteland - and the dems will expose their galling lack of empathy for the people who are actually suffering by scapegoating him. He is their ultimate totem. Their panacea to every ill. That's the root of TDS. A less cynical question you might consider is what crime has the national guard committed? If you can't think of one, I submit, you too, are suffering from TDS...because it's not Trump patrolling the streets of Chicago, himself. Right? But getting upset at cartoons is one of those things that the left has an absolute lock on. So posts like this are right on brand. It's identical in form to January 6th. Call it an insurrection. Call it WAR on Chicago. Cook your narrative soup at any temperature you like. I won't have any. The bottom line is that NONE of what the national guard has been called in to do has been illegal, or could even be considered problematic. Imagine living in a crime-ridden city and your governor is more concerned about this than about your public safety...ehh, I digress. Whatever.

Valid concerns. You guys are both on point, and I don't disagree. This is just my opinion. It sounds like @wikz understands the implication of using the GI bill for flight training. I don't think $60K is that much debt, but then again, I'm an airline pilot now who's biggest concern is when I see nearly $9,000 withheld from half my month's pay. It's effed. So my blackpill is trying to keep as much of my money as possible. Colors most of my opinions now-a-days. On that note...if anyone has any bright ideas for hanging on to more of my money...I'm all ears.

His wife or kid could use it for a degree too. Buy a house and rent it to his kid, who can pay for the house with BAH. This might also be in the future where college, and houses, will likely be even more expensive than they are now. I'm really just offering a perspective that says, "hey, realize you're getting less than about half of what it's worth if you use it for this." Of course people gotta make their own decisions based on their circumstances. Many times, though, I think people make less than fully informed decisions.

Personally, I would take a loan before smoking through the post 9/11 GI bill. The GI bill will pay about $15K/yr for vocational flight training vs $27K/yr if used for college (2023/2024 dollars). That's .60 for $1. Not a great return. Can you take out a $60K loan to fund your flight training to preserve a $100K benefit? That math also doesn't account for what you lose in BAH when you're taking college classes. Average E-5 with dependents BAH is approximately $2K per month. Multiply that by 36 months of benefit, and you're looking at $72K of tax free income. No payroll taxes. No income taxes. Just money in your pocket. The BAH alone is worth more than what they'll give you in flight training benefit. Just understand the total cost and make an educated decision. Don't be that guy who buys a brand new Camero on E-4 pay. The $60K flight training benefit is going to cost you about $140K. It will surely help, it's just not an efficient use of the benefit.

CFI / CFII will make you a better pilot faster. If you already have a pilot slot, IMO you shouldn't waste your time trying to become an airline pilot. Second, are you thinking of using your GI Bill to pay for flight hours / flight school? Other people may say different, but using it like that is an enormous waste. You'd be better off taking basket-weaving classes at a community college and stuffing the E-5 (with dependents) BAH into a mortgage. Sell the house. Collect the money. Don't use it on flight hours.

Instead of limiting who can vote, a better solution would be a government that couldn't tax our productivity in an uneven manner, thereby redistributing my precious and limited time on this Earth to other people. In lieu of that, however, the next best solution is to limit voting to those who materially participate - and to strip it from those who are merely along for the ride. What that looks like specifically can be debated, but the philosophical point some have made on this board is pretty clear. I admit it's a re-imagining of our idea of "democracy," but then again, so is the fact that 40+% (nearly 50%) of my time is stolen from me in some form or another and "redistributed" to other people. That's not the system any of us signed up for either. Rather, it's the end result of a perpetual creep from our originally envisioned government instituted to help us secure our life, liberty, and happiness. For a long time, voting was the best means to guarantee everyone's collective, long-term goals. Now it's become a means by which certain groups use the government to disenfranchise other groups. Voting ain't it anymore. Voting is a nice-to-have. Voting is a mechanism, it's not fundamental to a good life. A good life is me being able to keep what I produce. As soon as voting has become the way whereby I'm made a slave to other members of society, it has ceased being a necessary part of our society. We're all familiar with the meme about two wolfs and a sheep voting on who's for dinner...that's where we are and where we've been for some time. You have millionaire SS recipients who take 12.4% of my wages and spend it on whatever, instead of selling their million-dollar homes. Instead, they're going to deed their estates to their heirs, and use my wages to bridge the gap to their end-of-life. 12.4% of my time enables old people to make choices they otherwise couldn't (or wouldn't) make. In a two-week period of Mondays through Fridays, that's (more than) one whole day of my time. My commute. My gas money. My wear and tear on my vehicle. My time I could spend doing whatever else I want to do. Instead, my time is spent going to work for the retired. 30% of my income to income taxes? Well, you can do the math on how many days that takes up. You have EBT recipients who use their benefits to purchase luxury goods. You have school lunch recipients who throw away literally 100% of the food they receive into the trash. Every. Single. Day. Again, that's my time being thrown into the (literal) garbage can. The examples go on and on and on. I don't lament people's shock and disbelief that people could advocate for something as seemingly undemocratic as taking away people's right to vote. I understand those beliefs rest upon a hopeful, childish, but ultimately naive view of how our government and society function. i.e. a view grounded in a high-school-civics-level conception of our society. It only seems gross when it's juxtaposed against the cartoonish view of what we're programmed to think. When it's held up to a holistic view that encompasses how money, time, and productivity are actually redistributed throughout our society, it's the obvious answer.

I can only infer that you're making reference to his irresponsible use of unsecure messaging apps to communicate secret information. Of course that should be punished / not tolerated. And here is me, a guy on the right, plainly saying so. Whether or not that deserves prison is a whole different discussion though. Probably boils down to intent. The difference between what he did (irresponsible) and what Schiff attempted to do is a universe of difference though. If you can't see objectively see that, you're beyond redemption. Now, if you can look at what Schiff has done and say, yeah, that amounts to attempting to illegitimately undermine the president of the US and that is wrong and should be severely punished, then there's probably hope for you. If all you can do though is point at Pete Hegseth, and go "what about this guy?" then I got nothing for you.

Would love to see Schiff convicted of a federal crime and thrown in prison. Same with Swalwell. Now I just hope the FBI and the JD have the balls to follow through with prosecution. Tired of talk. I'm ready to see some action from these players.