Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped?

[cherdano]

You are giving him far too much credit. He was not fine about the potential of 3 low level classified documents falling into enemy hands via a private email server. But ~200 classified documents including the most sensitive information held by the US government being put in a location easily accessible by foreign intelligence agencies - that's no problem!

I stand corrected. I thought these comments exhibited him as selfish and unpatriotic, when in fact, they exhibited him as a selfish and unpatriotic hypocrite.

[Chas_P]

You are not quite the average American.

Nor are you. You moved from Argentina to wed a woman in Nova Scotia. That's OK. I wish you well. That's my whole point. I wish everyone well.

[hrothgar]

You are giving him far too much credit. He was not fine about the potential of 3 low level classified documents falling into enemy hands via a private email server. But ~200 classified documents including the most sensitive information held by the US government being put in a location easily accessible by foreign intelligence agencies - that's no problem!

 

You're missing the real point...

 

Were any blacks or involved hispanics involved?

I'm sure that this would have a significant impact on his opinions...

[hrothgar]

Nor are you. You moved from Argentina to wed a woman in Nova Scotia. That's OK. I wish you well. That's my whole point. I wish everyone well.

 

Bullshit

 

You're a racist 80 year old cracker, revelling in the fact that you now get to relive the racist glory of your youth on the internet.

 

Geraldo's ethnicity has nothing to do with the argument that he's making

You introduced this in the belief that its a slur

 

You're claims that you "wish everyone well"

 

That's another lie. You're a self admitted troll

You don't troll discussion forums because you wish the inhabitants well

 

You're a sad broke man.

The world will be much better once you're dead.

 

Why BBO ever allowed you to serve as a Yellow is incompressible

 

You don't lay down with dogs without getting fleas

[Winstonm]

I have a work-a-round for abortion law: let each family set its own law. If DeSantis wants to make it illegal for his own children to have an abortion, he files that with the state and it becomes law for his family. But his family law only applies to his family.

[Gilithin]

I have a work-a-round for abortion law: let each family set its own law. If DeSantis wants to make it illegal for his own children to have an abortion, he files that with the state and it becomes law for his family. But his family law only applies to his family.

How is this a workaround? If blue states enact this law and red states stick with their total bans, poor families will likely end up even worse off than they already are.

[Winstonm]

How is this a workaround? If blue states enact this law and red states stick with their total bans, poor families will likely end up even worse off than they already are.

National law. It supersedes.

And how could Republicans attack it as it limits government power and restores rights to individuals. And if a fetus is considered a person then the mother and father are already parents so you are allowing each family to make decisions concerning their own child.

 

It is all tongue-in- cheek if you haven’t figured that part out.😄

[Gilithin]

National law. It supersedes.

If Democrats could get a national law through - any national law - it would not be an issue. But there are not the votes to get through a filibuster, so it is going to take women to vote blue in huge numbers if they want to see a positive resolution to the whole thing. Otherwise, all Democrats can do is pass state laws. The best workaround currently there is to pass a Texas-style private action law targeting guns. But now that Roe and Casey have been washed away, Republicans do not even need those so the SCOTUS can happily fast track a denial.

[Chas_P]

Bullshit

 

You're a racist 80 year old cracker, revelling in the fact that you now get to relive the racist glory of your youth on the internet.

 

Geraldo's ethnicity has nothing to do with the argument that he's making

You introduced this in the belief that its a slur

 

You're claims that you "wish everyone well"

 

That's another lie. You're a self admitted troll

You don't troll discussion forums because you wish the inhabitants well

 

You're a sad broke man.

The world will be much better once you're dead.

 

Why BBO ever allowed you to serve as a Yellow is incompressible

 

You don't lay down with dogs without getting fleas

The amusement continues. Please do carry on. You definitely are a legend in your own mind.

[Gilithin]

This seems like an appropriate time to post an article about what has gone wrong with BBF.

[Winstonm]

If Democrats could get a national law through - any national law - it would not be an issue. But there are not the votes to get through a filibuster, so it is going to take women to vote blue in huge numbers if they want to see a positive resolution to the whole thing. Otherwise, all Democrats can do is pass state laws. The best workaround currently there is to pass a Texas-style private action law targeting guns. But now that Roe and Casey have been washed away, Republicans do not even need those so the SCOTUS can happily fast track a denial.

No, they only need enough votes to eliminate the filibuster. That could be much less than the 60 needed for a supermajority.

[pilowsky]

[hrothgar]

The amusement continues. Please do carry on. You definitely are a legend in your own mind.

 

Here's the thing Chas

 

This isn't all in my own mind.

Its the view of most of the folks of the forum.'

 

I simply repost this every now and then for the benefits of anyone new to the thread

 

However, if you like, we can test this

 

Anyone here willing to stand up for Chas?

 

Anyone actually believe that he's not a racist piece of *****?

Anyone think that he's not a troll?

[Chas_P]

Here's the thing Chas

Anyone here willing to stand up for Chas?

I don't need anyone to stand up for me. You, OTOH, seem greatly in need of affirmation. I wish you happiness.

[hrothgar]

I don't need anyone to stand up for me. You, OTOH, seem greatly in need of affirmation. I wish you happiness.

 

Stupid stupid little Chas

 

Can't even remember what he writes from day to day

 

Well, you're in your 80s

Alzheimers is probably setting in

 

Quick reminder

 

You started out by claiming that I am a legend in my own mind

I responded by pointing out that my claims are actually well in accord with the opinions of folks on forums

MULTIPLE people label you as a racist

 

Saying that you stand alone doesn't refute my basic claim

Indeed, you're conceding the point

[y66]

re: trolls

 

Ideally, forum software would support delegating mod authority to thread starters. A reasonable alternative would be to ban posters who don't respect requests from thread starters to please stop sh*t posting.

[kenberg]

I have been busy but I have to take a moment here. I think in some circumstances posters should be banned but I think it should be very rare. Nothing I have seen here, at least for some years, remotely qualifies. Not all discussion here go as I wish they would. Yep, that's so, but I don't want anyone banned.

[pilowsky]

Water cooler rules: Do no evil?

The 2nd pinned post made in the water cooler by Rain March 4 2006.

This is meant to be a place to engage in dialogue, share your views and perspectives on global events, anything that can't fit into the other forums. However, we'll still follow some basic rules:

 

1) No personal attacks. Insults are a No-No. You can have issues with someone else's opinion and attack that (in a civilised manner hopefully), but don't go after anyone personally.

 

2) No advertising, no spam.

 

3) No obscenities.

 

Posters who engage in hateful, vulgar, threatening, knowingly illegal and inaccurate posts may be suspended not just from forums, but also our related websites.

 

In general, please follow this rule of thumb (which is a good rule I've picked up from another forum): If you aren't comfortable emailing a post to your grandmother/mother/colleague, then it probably shouldn't be posted here.

 

By posting in this forum, you have also agreed to the terms stated here.

 

Ok?

 

Whew!

Lets keep the posts flowing. On Behalf of BBO and BBF, Thanks!

[Chas_P]

Stupid stupid little Chas

 

Can't even remember what he writes from day to day

 

Well, you're in your 80s

Alzheimers is probably setting in

 

Quick reminder

 

You started out by claiming that I am a legend in my own mind

I responded by pointing out that my claims are actually well in accord with the opinions of folks on forums

MULTIPLE people label you as a racist

 

Saying that you stand alone doesn't refute my basic claim

Indeed, you're conceding the point

 

As Mr. Shakespeare said, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

[kenberg]

Water cooler rules: Do no evil?

The 2nd pinned post made in the water cooler by Rain March 4 2006.

[/color]

 

The grandmother rule is reasonable, at least metaphorically. I couldn't stand my maternal grandmother and the other one was dead long before I was born. So if we go by what I would write to my grandmother I will never post again.

 

We post opinions. Of course we do. I loved high school geometry where every assertion came with a proof but that's not real life. So we post opinions.

 

As to obscenities, I favor reasonable tolerance. I watch modern movies and find far more casual obscenity in them than I use in my own speech. When I was a high school Sophomore I went on a binge of obscenities, double negatives etc. "I ain't got no effin interest in poetry". I grew out of it. But occasionally a mild obscenity seems to fit. I think we can all survive it.

 

"Do no evil" is reasonable except that we do not all agree on what constitutes evil. The Dems spent a lot of money helping Trumpees to win in the recent Republican primaries. That was both evil and stupid in my opinion. Not everyone agrees.

 

I try to be as honest as possible and as clear as possible about my thoughts. That's the best I can do.

[Gilithin]

It seems to me that whenever a mass of negative press surrounds Donald Trump, certain conservatives come here and launch trolling posts that attempt to bury any discussion about the current scandal. If you look back through the history of this thread, you can see this pattern repeating itself endlessly. At this time it seems much more fitting for this thread to be discussing why "someone" at Mar-a-Lago stole over 10000 government documents including 2-300 with confidential markings than to go over Chas's racist posting history yet again.

[Winstonm]

It seems to me that whenever a mass of negative press surrounds Donald Trump, certain conservatives come here and launch trolling posts that attempt to bury any discussion about the current scandal. If you look back through the history of this thread, you can see this pattern repeating itself endlessly. At this time it seems much more fitting for this thread to be discussing why "someone" at Mar-a-Lago stole over 10000 government documents including 2-300 with confidential markings than to go over Chas's racist posting history yet again.

 

Yes, it is frustrating that a federal judge has in essence installed herself as Trump’s defense counsel but all the networks want to do is frame it as a both sides dispute and allow GOP to spread their lies unchallenged.

[y66]

I'm a proponent of free speech broadly construed so I think we moderate the Slow Boring comments with a pretty light hand.

 

But freedom to boot people on occasion is critical to making it functional and appealing.

It's not just the water cooler apparently.

[kenberg]

This seems like an appropriate time to post an article about what has gone wrong with BBF.

 

The article illustrates a problem. It is written by Film Crit Hulk. At least I am kenberg although since I have, afaik, never met any of my fellow posters f2f this doesn't matter much. When I was young calling someone an obscenity-laced name was apt to lead to a fistfight, so you learned not to do that. At least in St. Paul, if someone called you an MF SOB they could not have you arrested if you punched them in the nose. You couldn't shoot them. At any rate, there was some deterrence for the language used.

 

I don't regard myself as a Rightie, but not as a Leftie either. In WaPo I read George Will and I read E. J. Dionne. Neither of them is a troll, neither of them is a god. They are both intelligent and interesting.

 

As to problems with BBF, I regard the lack of diversity, or the lack of surprise, as the biggest problem. In the last five years have I said anything that surprised anyone? Has Winston? We all know each other's views. It's true that I avoid lunch with Trumpees or with those who think vaccines make you radioactive, but I like chatting with those whose views are more conservative than mine.

[Winstonm]

The article illustrates a problem. It is written by Film Crit Hulk. At least I am kenberg although since I have, afaik, never met any of my fellow posters f2f this doesn't matter much. When I was young calling someone an obscenity-laced name was apt to lead to a fistfight, so you learned not to do that. At least in St. Paul, if someone called you an MF SOB they could not have you arrested if you punched them in the nose. You couldn't shoot them. At any rate, there was some deterrence for the language used.

 

I don't regard myself as a Rightie, but not as a Leftie either. In WaPo I read George Will and I read E. J. Dionne. Neither of them is a troll, neither of them is a god. They are both intelligent and interesting.

 

As to problems with BBF, I regard the lack of diversity, or the lack of surprise, as the biggest problem. In the last five years have I said anything that surprised anyone? Has Winston? We all know each other's views. It's true that I avoid lunch with Trumpees or with those who think vaccines make you radioactive, but I like chatting with those whose views are more conservative than mine.

 

I like to think of myself as convincible. This is not the same as gullible. Neither is it the same as unbendable. I like to keep in mind and be a proponent of the words attributed to John Maynard Keynes: When the facts change, I change my mind; what do you do, sir?

 

That idea should have neither a liberal nor a conservative bias. That it does is the problem.