Trump’s 2nd term: American Carnage

[Mythos27]

2 hours ago, Titandan said:

I don't think the Dems are racist.  They just need the votes.  It's political strategy.  

Why don't we give conservatives a try in urban areas for a decade and see if there's any change for better or for worse?   I know it's a pipedream at this point but would be interesting. 

I would say some things that can possibly help the lower class is school choice, financial education, incentives to break out of entitlements, and strict law enforcement. 

I say this as a minority that has mentored underprivileged kids in LA for over a decade.  Although my homeless outreach in DTLA has been within arms length, my experience with urban youth is pretty extensive.  Most of the kids that have serious issues either come from abusive homes (usually fathers) or majority do not have a father to begin with.  One of my youth kid's father (ex gang member) friended me on Facebook and his daughter was also "friends" with me.  That dude posted fully naked pictures of women he bedded on his page.  I could only imagine shit like that must be traumatizing for the kid.  Still wish I could shield that girl from that type of degeneracy but the best I could do is pretend I never saw that side of her father. Unfriended that asshole as soon as I could. 

If you guys have kids, please take good care of them and show them that they are loved and precious. Having a loving and consistent mother and father makes such a huge difference in their lives. I know I'm being corny as hell but I've seen the difference and I mean that sincerely.

The conservatives have not even been able to materially better the lives of people in rural areas which are far less populated! Them and the corporate democrats selling them out to corporations that would outsource their jobs are how Trump became president the first time around. The problems that exist go far beyond the democrat/republican paradigm. I'll repeat; NONE of this changes until we get MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. That's it. Most of the other shit is window dressing and trying to plug holes on a sinking ship. 

Edited January 29, 2025 by Mythos27

[Strunk'sDessert]

2 minutes ago, Titandan said:

If you hate racists, we're in the same camp.

But I guess it may be our definition of racism that might be a point of contention for us. 

Btw, if you're annoyed at my posts, feel free to ignore me. I am aware that I was a bit snarky with you from the get go but I sensed condescension when you gave me what looked like homework on which pieces of political literature I should read before I get to post anything.  If you want to educate some rando on the internet, feel free to cite quotes or your sources don't even need to be verbatim.  But don't give me hundreds of pages of reading material before I can come back and debate you.  This isn't university and this isn't a professor, student relationship.  I was getting attacked by at least a dozen people at the time so I lost my cool and made a stupid remark the contents of which I completely forgot as of now.  

Anyway, yes. You are correct. I have lived in the burbs of LA and I moved out to the city less than a decade ago.  Burbs were moderate but currently more red (primarily Armenian/Latino population) while the city is bluer than bluesky.  I didn't realize how good I had it in the moderate suburban area until I moved out to LA.  After seeing some of the most disgusting elements of the human condition I ever imagined, my ability to tolerate bullshit has weakened quite a bit. So I'm not as patient as I used to be and it probably shows on this board as much as it does in real life. 

Perhaps, I will need to move out to Alabama countryside to experience some real racism. But until then, all I got are Youtube videos, media, and anecdotal experiences shared by my friends who live in these areas. 

There are other Youtube videos but I remember watching this one a couple years ago.  I wouldn't want to live here but even here it seems like normal people are the majority.  I hope we can agree that for the last several decades, racism has been dying in America and that's a good thing.  

 

 

Cool, scout. 

 

You saw 1st hand what it sounds like, seemed shocked, and had it explained to you by someone that can tell you that that language is, sadly, far from unfamiliar to me coming from exposure from all types of white communities. Which is the question you asked, dip fuck. 

 

I hope you don't ever experience the real racism I'm talking about. Truly. 

 

But you're pretty insufferable.

 

So, if I do feel like continuing to call out you for being stupid while not ignoring your posts, I will. Takes no effort on my part. 

 

Grace given. Grace rescinded. 

[Titans279]

2 minutes ago, Mythos27 said:

The conservatives have not even been able to materially better the lives of people in rural areas which are far less populated! Them and the corporate democrats selling them out to corporations that would outsource their jobs are how Trump became president the first time around. The problems that exist go far beyond the democrat/republican paradigm. I'll repeat; NONE of this changes until we get MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. That's it. Most of the other shit is window dressing and trying to plug holes on a sinking ship. 

And now money is more in politics than ever before. There’s basically open bribery all across the federal government now. We’re in for some dark times. 

[Mythos27]

3 hours ago, Titandan said:

Trump has been pro-LGBT for as long as I could remember.  I really don't care as long as people with penises don't use women's restrooms or locker rooms.  What you do in private is not my concern as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. 

He's really not man. No one that is actually pro LGBT would allow their people to go after trans people so viciously. If the majority of the MAGA movement actually believed this, they wouldn't have supported him. His more effective campaign add was pitting the interests of trans people against those of the average American. You seem like a well-meaning guy but then you say something like this and it gives me pause. You might think he's not personally a bigot and honestly I don't care whether that is true or not because it doesn't matter. What matters is the effect that his leadership has on trans people in particular and bud only die hard conservatives would say it's a positive one. If you said that in public, people from both sides would laugh in your face.

[Starkiller]

14 minutes ago, Little Earl said:

Name one Democrat other than Storm Thurman that became Republican.   

It isn’t about individual politicians leaving one party and joining the other. It’s about conservatives leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party in large numbers. 
 

If you’re looking for other specific Dems who jumped to the GOP other than Strom Thurmond I could throw in Jesse Helms and Ronald Reagan.

[Mythos27]

15 minutes ago, Titandan said:

Speaking of which...  I wonder why @TitanPoke's so quite today. Weekly KKK meeting with the grand wizard? LOL

In my experience, most bigots can't wait to tell you how bigoted they are. They have to bottle that shit up all day and pretend they're not full of hate. They find places like this and just let loose under the cloud of anonymity. He's not the first racist that's outed himself here. I've personally led a few down the path of full disclosure here. 

[Mythos27]

6 minutes ago, Titandan said:

How do you propose to better the lives of those in rural areas?

I think Tax Cuts alone would improve the lives of these people.  

And how do we get rid of corporate money in politics?  Sincere questions. 

One more time, because I'm not sure you heard me the first two times: GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. Then we can get a government that is actually responsive to the needs of it's people. I don't know how we do it at this point, citizens united is enshrined into law but it's the only way and I know damn sure the republicans won't do it. Most democrats won't either. 

Edited January 29, 2025 by Mythos27

[Starkiller]

6 minutes ago, Titandan said:

How do you propose to better the lives of those in rural areas?

I think Tax Cuts alone would improve the lives of these people.  

And how do we get rid of corporate money in politics?  Sincere questions. 

How the fuck are tax cut going to improve the lives of rural Americans. Are they all secretly fucking rich???

[Mythos27]

1 minute ago, Starkiller said:

How the fuck are tax cut going to improve the lives of rural Americans. Are they all secretly fucking rich???

Mind you, Trump did a tax cut last time in office and it did next to nothing to help poverty. Meanwhile, the expanded earned income child credit lifted a substantial number of American  children out of poverty. We know what works.  

[nine]

This very well might be the single biggest WTF moment in the history of the United States government:

 

Amid threats of massive downsizing and elimination of federal programs and entire departments....the Trump  Administration is now making a cattle call to all 2+ million federal employees offering 8 months severance for everyone who agrees to quit their job next week and walk away.  

 

https://www.opm.gov/fork

 

https://apnews.com/article/trump-buyouts-to-all-federal-employees-f67f5751a0fd5ad8471806a5a1067b5e

 

I'm utterly dumbfounded.   Absolutely speechless.

[Mythos27]

1 minute ago, Titandan said:

I agree with your premise but is there an example of this working in other government systems/countries?

How about if at all possible, we outlaw corporate lobbies, we limit corporate donations to political campaigns/politicians, and also shrink government powers while we're at it.  Decentralize everything.  

But that also begs to ask, then what about the ascension of AI (specifically Chinese AI startup, DeepSeek), and its disruption of the US-based Tech Industry yesterday?  If this really is as China is advertising, US might need to cooperate with US Tech companies to overcome Chinese competition.  I've been looking at AI since the beginning of last year, and not having a tech background, the implications of all this all has been quite confusing to navigate.

I'm open to any and all possibilities. All I know is that allowing billionaires like Musk and whoever was backing Kamala to essentially buy politicians and then lean on them to sell us out for their short term gain is what's fucking us. 

[OzTitan]

3 minutes ago, nine said:

This very well might be the single biggest WTF moment in the history of the United States government:

 

Amid threats of massive downsizing and elimination of federal programs and entire departments....the Trump  Administration is now making a cattle call to all 2+ million federal employees offering 8 months severance for everyone who agrees to quit their job next week and walk away.  

 

https://www.opm.gov/fork

 

https://apnews.com/article/trump-buyouts-to-all-federal-employees-f67f5751a0fd5ad8471806a5a1067b5e

 

I'm utterly dumbfounded.   Absolutely speechless.

They weren't kidding about burning it to the ground.

 

Good luck getting this severance, lol, didn't we see this with Elon and Twitter?

[Mythos27]

Just now, Titandan said:

Don't know what you do with your tax returns but keeping more of my money sure as hell helped me LOL 

Sure, my tax returns help me too. But that's a short term fix. What would have helped me more would've been child care for when my 3 kids were born, adequate time off so that I wouldn't have to have left my wife to grapple with being a new parent alone, and universal pre-k so that my kids could've gotten an earlier start to their education. These are the kind of things we need that the rich stand in the way of and convince conservatives are a slippery slope to socialism. 

[Strunk'sDessert]

Isn't this literally the Project 2025 playbook? Why is anyone surprised? 

 

Also, lol, God forbid student loans or education grants, but we'll pay people to just not fucking work because Trump doesn't like them. 

[Starkiller]

31 minutes ago, Titandan said:

Don't know what you do with your tax returns but keeping more of my money sure as hell helped me LOL 

How much money do you think that tax cuts would save rural Americans? How much do you think they make in income every year?