@raphjd said in Trudeau says Canada will stand against authoritarianism:

@bi4smooth

You are full of shit. They said that getting the vaccine prevents you from getting and spreading covid. Sure, later they changed their tune.

Why must you continue to "micro" analyze "macro" scientific statements? Having 80% of the population taking the vaccine would prevent the spread of the virus - on a macro (population) level, not an individual level.

It's not worth repeating - you insist on misinterpreting the statements to meet your own twisted idea of being "right"... I could no more convince you that they've been truthful in their statements than I could that Mary was a fraud and Jesus was just another kid, albeit one with some very uncommon ideas for his time.

No - both of those are faith-based beliefs, and no science or fact will dissuade you from that... and arguing with you more on that subject is like wrestling a pig in shit - you both get covered in shit, but the pig actually likes it!

Trudeau is an authoritarian. You don't have to invade another country for that.

Trudeau is exercising the powers that were given to him by his own democratically elected Gov't. Indeed, in some cases, the Canadian Courts have held that he's exceeded his authority!

As an Authoritarian, he should have sought to replace the judges, or declared the courts to be illegitimate! (See Putin's behavior in Russia over the past 20 years or so where he's been the President and/or Prime Minister - in spite of term limits or 8-10 years!)

Nope - he took the losses in the Courts and changed to rules/policies that were upheld...

Speed Limits and Seatbelt laws were once derided as "authoritarian" - and to the degree that you use the term, virtually ALL laws are authoritarian!

Viva Anarchy! (at least until the mobs turn against YOU!!!

Trudeau has personally praised both BLM and Antifa, as has his Deputy PM.

No argument that he's praised Liberal causes... he's a Liberal! <I know! I was shocked, too!>

Are you shocked that Donald Trump praised the Proud Boys and 3 Percenters? I am not! - and those organizations are ACTUALLY ON the Terrorist Groups recognized by both Canadian and US Gov'ts!

Why must you downplay everything BLM and Antifa do?

I don't downplay it - I just don't buy into your hyperbolic representation of what those groups stand for!

I don't believe in what they stand for, and I agree that some of their demonstrations have gotten out of hand... but none of the rioting or looting was for the purpose of overthrowing the Gov't! It was just people being "Mad As Hell, and Not Going To Take It Anymore!" Out of hand? Yes... Criminal? Yes... Terrorist? No... Treasonous? No... I can't say no to those last 2 for the Proud Boys or 3 Percenters....

But these aren't the ONLY Liberal groups that go "over the top" sometimes... Greenpeace has crippled ships in the Pacific in the name of "saving the whales"...

And it's not limited to Liberal groups... Some Conservative "activists" go over the line - tho most not AS FAR as the Proud Boys, et. al....

LOL, shutting down traffic versus rioting, looting, and murdering. I see you and Trudeau are of the same mind.

I see - and if I lit a movie house on fire and locked the doors, it'd just be a "prank" for locking the doors? Your "description" of the truck drivers' protests as "just blocking traffic" is equally "under-reporting" the facts...

Have you forgotten what your side has done in DC and elsewhere? Maybe you should use DuckDuckGo and have a look.

"My side" is not BLM, or Antifa, or even Democrats - much less Liberals in general. "My side" are the "Rational Republicans" who believe in principals of smaller Gov't, more freedom, and fiscal restraint. I also believe that "my side" doesn't have all the answers - there are valid points to be made by some Liberals... which is why compromise as a Governmental Art Form is necessary... to work out which parts of "my side's" beliefs about what's best, the "their side's" beliefs about what's best will actually work, and which ones won't... keep the good, dump the bad.

Of course, you will always make excuses.

I present facts, not hyperbolic interpretations of facts... those aren't excuses.

@raphjd said in Trudeau says Canada will stand against authoritarianism:

@bi4smooth

Blah, blah, blah

You weren't active until very late into Trump's Presidency.

Trudeau is still an authoritarian, as are Putin and Biden. Just because they are not exactly the same does not negate their authoritarianism. Even you have said this exact kind of thing before, about others.

You pretend to be an expert in everything.

I post links and you refuse to look at them, even when they are official government records because it doesn't fit with your narrative.

By your definition, Trump was an authoritarian as well!

I am an expert at very little (mostly IT-related issues) - however, I'm a pretty good researcher, and I make my living using "critical thinking" to solve problems for my clients.

You, on the other hand, spout Russian propaganda as-if it's religious material and refuse to admit to as much as a typo of a mistake!

@serenity said in Why people need to lead by example:

@raphjd Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people and wounded another. That is a fact, that even his defender didn't say that he didn't. The question was, if it was murder or self defense.

What? are you saying he murdered the survivor?
(Just pulling a @raphjd on you there!)

Can we get back to the original post? You posted a doctored photo in support of your "everyone else is as racist - or more so - than me" theory... and got called out on it.

I think if I were you, I'd just delete the whole conversation here... call it a mea culpa, and move on... you have the power LOL

@hubrys said in Clinton-Backed Haiti Pastor Indicted on Child Sex Charges.:

I don't understand what the point of this post is supposed to be. Are you trying to allege that the Clintons knew Corrigan Clay was a child molester when they started working with his ex-wife's charitable organizations? What's your evidence for that?

If that's not your point, then how does this man being a child molester in any way tarnish the charitable good that the Clinton Foundation attempted to do here?

Are you just taking joy in the fact that a minor was physically, sexually, and emotionally damaged because it might, in your twisted mind, harm the Clintons? Geez, you mean your hatred of the Clinton's is greater than your empathy for children? Shame on you!

No, he's taking joy in the fact that the sicko child molester was - in any way or at any time - associated with the Clinton's.

Guilt by association - a common Trumpite tactic...

@raphjd said in Clinton-Backed Haiti Pastor Indicted on Child Sex Charges.:

@hubrys

It's strange that only I only ever hear what Qanon believes from liberals.

I'm guessing you guys get your news from Democratic Underground.

Your lack of curiosity re: Q-Anon is telling... afraid you'll find your source material and discover just how much bullshit you've been "consuming" lately?

I know this is "click bait" for me, but this is attacking the child (albeit adult child) of a political candidate/rival who has no part in his father's political operations, campaigns, etc.

Off limits

Should the Left do a deep dive on Tiffany or Barron Trump?

I don't think so...

Mike drop - I'm outta this thread...

First of all, Mark Levin is a Conservative radio talk show host - it's his job to say outrageous things.

Secondly, @raphjd is again screaming fire when someone lit a match.

Did the Jan 6 committee alter the text message in a placard used in a hearing? YES

What did they change? They inadvertently added a period.

Being that validating the content of a text message would be impossible to do, naturally the Dems covered it up, paying AT&T millions to keep quiet... right?

Oh the inhumanity! Is there no justice in this world?

Well, no... actually validating the content of the text message was easy, and when it was pointed out, the Dems recognized their error and apologized for the minor slip.

BTW: This is where your vaunted Mr. Meadows claimed to live - for the purposes of voter registration - in NC:

The 2020 picture is beginning to clear:

Trump's team was so sure that the Dems had cheated because they KNEW that THEY had cheated - and the only logical explanation for their loss must've been that the Dems cheated even more!

@raphjd said in Levin Calls For Schiff To Be Disbarred Over Doctored J6 Committee Text Messages:

@bi4smooth

Clearly, you have a pathological need to defend the DNC/CCP at every turn.

"Inadvertently" I guess that's the same thing that happened in the FBI with the CIA email about Carter Paige and the FISA warrants.

Are you seriously suggesting that the accidental addition of a PERIOD when some intern made a poster out of the message actually altered the message content - in any MEANINGFUL way???

Who's the delusional one?

R-O-F-L ... it comes full circle now!

Read the article...

Hunter Biden conspired with other Democrats from the Clinton and Obama administrations, along with those evil Ukrainians (what happened to the Chinese?) to release COVID-19 to get Trump out of office!

Of course, they planned the COVID-19 crisis - because it's so common that US Voters choose to oust a sitting President during a crisis! (Historically - not so much! Had Trump handled the crisis as most Presidents would: by galvanizing the country around a unified response, he'd have been re-elected in the landslide he always dreamed of! Instead, he turned it into a political football, blaming others for stupid things and setting Americans against Americans over a distrust of science! DOH!)

Re-read the article - without the "world-view" that every one of the 7 billion people, except for the 70+ million who voted for Trump in 2020, were conspiring to get him (Trump) out of office...

@gerggently said in Dems who once decried "loose canon" Trump, now defending Biden "going off script":

Yes, which is why his remarks were so refreshing and the fact he's not backing down is making talking heads assplode is beautiful.

Refreshing? His remarks practically panicked our allies - who are even more AFRAID of war than Biden is himself - and fed the Russian paranoia that we were "out to get them" (You know the "red scare" we knew just a few decades ago? Well, they have their own "Yankee scare" culture!)

So many people who I had good time for are misinterpreting what he said, outside of the deliberately dense dullards at Fox and DSA, that I've stopped following a few dozen people on Facebook and Twitter.

Unfollowing people because they don't agree with your own interpretation of events ... how Trumpian of you! (You have learned well, grasshopper... the dark side of the Force strong within you!)

Speechwriters are not noted for their bravery.

Do you think Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" comment was "off the cuff"?

Speechwriters don't PUT the words into the politician's mouths, they POLISH the words that come out of their mouths! If Biden wanted to call for regime change in Russia - without giving Putin the soundbites he'll use to excuse many many more heinous war crimes - his speechwriters could have found a way....

I suspect the NSA is learning to "cull" actual national secrets OUT of Presidential briefings for Biden the same way they did for Trump... loose lips sink ships!

@raphjd said in BREAKING: Matt Gaetz Claims He Has Contents Of Hunter Biden's Laptop, Attempts To Enter Into Record:

@bi4smooth

Are you saying that Hunter's laptop, emails, photos and all are fake?

I'm saying the laptop's "bona fides" aren't clear, and remains a part of the Justice Dept's investigations...

Look, as I said before: Hunter Biden has a LOT of skeletons in his closet - REAL ONES - you DON'T have to make shit up (e.g. make claims that are still unclear as to whether they are valid)...

Hunter Biden:

• is a known, and admitted drug addict
• as a drug addict, he squandered HUGE sums of money on drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes - an allegation made by his ex-wife and he has admitted to
• he cheated on his wife, having multiple affairs - including with his dead brother's widow (that doesn't say much about her either!)
• he attempted to disclaim a child - born to one of his one-night-stands - only to have is paternity proven by DNA testing
• his addiction was so bad, the Navy discharged him - from the reserves!
• he is KNOWN to have claimed to be able to get his "clients" close to his father, but all reports so far say none of those "schemes" came to fruition - it seems Joe Biden loves his son, but also knows NOT to trust him and keeps him well away from his political career
• owed about $450k in back taxes on property in Washington, DC - but those have been paid, although the source of the funds seems to be in question

So, we can all agree, Hunter Biden is not a "good guy"!

The contents of the laptop (who Hunter claims was stolen by Russians - making any contents suspect) remains a maelstrom of speculation from assholes who don't care about facts... if and when those contents are revealed in a credible way (like, for instance, as evidence in a trial!), we can then believe what's there... until then, the speculation has been rampant - with nary a credible source around...

One last thing:

Hunter Biden has never - once - held a political office.

Not even as a Senate Page when his dad was a Senator. (Again, it seems to me that Papa Joe has always known his boy was troubled - and kept him away from "important" parts of his life as a result. That said, as a father of 9, let me tell you - you don't love your kid less because they're a scumbag. You love them still. You try to protect them as much as you can. And you protect yourself from them!)

@raphjd said in BREAKING: Matt Gaetz Claims He Has Contents Of Hunter Biden's Laptop, Attempts To Enter Into Record:

@gerggently

Actually, there's a longer video which is much better.

Funny how Democrats don't want Hunter's laptop in the record.

If Matt Gaetz actually has the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, and wants to read it into the record, well then:
1 - someone at the Justice Dept (who actually DOES have custody of the laptop in question) isn't just in trouble, they're going to prison for losing, and tampering, with evidence in a Federal Investigation
2 - let him read it (but insist he read ALL of it - for context, don't ya know)... including log files, events, and crash dumps! Assuming there's about 100GB of data on there, it should take him about 6-7 years to read aloud all of the data on that laptop!

This is such bullshit... an incredibly easy to disprove claim... maybe he's trying to take the heat off of Rep. Cawthorn - he who claims to have been invited to Capitol Hill orgys and to have seen other Reps do lines of cocaine!

Note: Cawthorn is being threatened with "being primaried" by his own party because his antics are so "over the top"...

I like a good Republican - but an asswipe is an asswipe, regardless of who they caucus with!

@raphjd said in BREAKING: Matt Gaetz Claims He Has Contents Of Hunter Biden's Laptop, Attempts To Enter Into Record:

@bi4smooth

If you watch Congress, they constantly put things into the record without reading it.

If it's so easy to disprove it, let's see what you have.

They put written material into the record... go ahead, add a tractor the the Congressional Record...

Again: the laptop is in the custody of the Justice Dept. - if Gaetz (who is a clown) actually has the laptop, someone (who works in evidence lockup) is going to prison.

Again - plenty of REAL dirt on Hunter - made-up shit is unnecessary and detracts (further?) from your credibility... right, Rep Cawthorn?

@raphjd said in BREAKING: Matt Gaetz Claims He Has Contents Of Hunter Biden's Laptop, Attempts To Enter Into Record:

@bi4smooth

Papa Joe brags about using tax money to protect Hunter. It's on video.

A crackhead and criminal will say anything to keep out of trouble.

Of course, he's gonna claim some mysterious Russians stole his laptop, since 51 spies (the same ones that lied about Trump colluding with Russia) said it.

You are easily confused, aren't you...

If Joe Biden uses "personal" money to bail out his son, it's Government money - because he works for the Government... there are all kinds of controls and audits on how actual Government money is spent... and if it was spent on defending HUNTER Biden, I would think that'd have come out by now. (Of course, you can't prove a negative. I can't prove there are no angels on any heads of any pins - only that, under a microscope, we've never found one - yet!)

The person who claimed Russians stole the laptop is Hunter Biden - who, while he claims (and there is no evidence to the contrary) to be clean now, as the tale with his illegitimate child shows, he doesn't always remember what he did when he was using... not a credible witness, to be sure.

But the point(s) here aren't that Hunter Biden isn't a very "good guy" - the point is that you're trying to use the moral and physical failures of an apolitical son to sully the name & reputation of his father! And that's just wrong.

I'm dropping this thread because, as with your other Hunter Biden thread, you are just trying to throw mud at Joe Biden (who has his own foibles to attend to and atone for!), and are inappropriately using his apolitical family member as a weapon. That's just sad, immoral, and pitiful on your part.

Argue about it with someone else... (mic drop) I'm outta this one!

You may remember this: Former Rep Devin Nunes (R-CA) resigned from Congress in January to take the helm of Donald Trump's Media & Technology Group - the Trump company that would oversee the "Truth Social" app - designed to give Trump a platform aside from Twitter and Facebook, which had taken to censoring his ... er... imaginative, fact deficient, borderline delusional posts.

Launched a little over a month ago (Feb 21, 2022), Nunes (who once sued the owner of a Twitter account named "@DevinCow" - an account largely used to lampoon the Congressman. Shocker: the suit was dismissed as frivolous) has quickly learned that all the marketing in the world can't fix a broken app! As someone who has worked in tech for my entire career, I have one piece of advise for him: if you're going to run a tech company, high some GOOD tech people! (The site has struggled to scale, even though the base code is from Mastadon - a free and open-source platform that has proven to be quite scalable in the "right hands").

But tech hasn't been the whole problem:

• The "Truth Social" app was initially a hit! Signing up 872K users in the first week, but enthusiasm quickly waned - esp as many of the early users were using the platform to attack and make fun of the former President.
• Current statistics show about 50K hits per week on Apple's App Store - a 90% drop from the first week!
• The companion website initially had 6-million hits per week, but instead of growing, the visits to the site have fallen to under 1-million per week. (NOTE: The website cannot be used to post or read posts on the app, nor is the Android version of the app available yet)
• Launched as an "alternative" to the "heavy-handed" Twitter and Facebook, users were quickly confronted with terms of service that forbade users to: "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site".
  Truth Social also declares that it has the right to "suspend or terminate your account" and also "take appropriate legal action".
• Truth Social has blocked accounts for behavior it considers harmful or inappropriate, including creating accounts with parody names or complaining about the app.
• Truth Social also disclaims any responsibility for any post made on the platform (Section 230 anyone?)
• Needless to say, users' responses have been akin to: this is better than Twitter and Facebook.... how?

One more factoid: Axios reported that there were multiple official-looking accounts for entities, like: @NFL, @FoxSports, @ESPN and others. These "accounts" had legitimate-appearing links and logos, but were not created with the help - or even permission - of the named entities! Some were removed when the rightful owners of the service and trademarks complained.

Needless to say, The Donald is not pleased. Rumors around the TMTG water coolers is that Mr. Nunes is avoiding Mr. Trump, for fear of hearing those infamous words: YOU'RE FIRED!

Maybe he can run and get his old seat in Congress back?

@raphjd said in Health care is now a private matter:

Democrats are now saying that health care is a private matter.

HIPAA (the law in the US that protects your health information) was enacted in 1996 - under a Democrat President.

So... they've been saying health care is a private matter since 1996.

The "explosive" issue in the US is that a draft proposed SCOTUS ruling was leaked, and it would repeal Roe v. Wade - the ruling from nearly 50 years ago that protected a woman's right to choose an abortion. (It had other affects as well)...

If that is the final decision, it will throw a REAL monkey-wrench into the mid-term elections: a large majority of the US electorate is pro-choice. What should be a Republican monsoon of wins may be the opposite!

Time will tell...

@raphjd said in Health care is now a private matter:

Here's a tweet from Kamala, on 3 May;

The rights of all Americans are at risk in this draft opinion. If the right to privacy is weakened, every person could face a future in which the government can potentially interfere in the personal decisions you make about your life.

Oh, the fucking irony.

You're beautiful!

You're purposefully conflating PUBLIC HEALTH with PERSONAL HEALTH.

You do know that, under Reagan/Bush there was a push to FORCE people with HIV/AIDS to identify themselves as-such in any situation where there may be exposure:

• ALL medical facilities (Dr., Dentist, Physical Therapist, Psychiatrist, Massage Therapist... you name it!)
• People who were HIV+ and didn't divulge this information could be charged with "reckless endangerment" or even "attempted murder".
• People who were HIV+ were, in some states, required to wear IDs (bracelets, necklaces, etc) that identified them as HIV+ - JUST IN CASE there was an accident and emergency personnel arrived on scene (you gotta know who to save, and who to let die, don't ya know!)

Look, there ALWAYS has to be a balance between personal (private) health information, and public safety-releated health issues. We (society, not Democrat/Republican) don't always get it right, and in times of crisis, we usually overreact.

Personally, I was far more concerned about the Covid-19 ID (vaccination) cards than I was the vaccine mandates! (NOTE: ALL of the "mandates" had exceptions for people with legitimate reasons not to be vaccinated). They seemed Orwellian and could have easily been misused. I don't know about other places, but that - thankfully - did not happen here. (The only people who EVER asked for my vaccine card was my employer.)

Here in Fla, and in Louisiana (where I recently traveled), there are plenty of places (businesses) where masks are still (this is mid-2022) required, and where people are asked to "mask up" IF they haven't been vaccinated - but allowing them to self-identify as meeting the criteria... sans documentation! Viva la difference! (Intentional Anglican-French spellings there!)

Honestly, as-is, it's not much different than the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs we used to encounter as kids (I grew up on the Florida beaches - no shirt AND no shoes was the NORM for kids!)

@raphjd said in Democrats throw "birthing people" under the bus:

@bi4smooth

It says everything about you liberals.

You idiots flip flop all over the map, to suit your agenda.

As I said, if I dared claim, as you did, that man can't get pregnant, you would have called me a transphobe. But since I sided with the trans community, you idiots claim I'm a transphobe. That is the kind of garbage people you liberals are.

You liberals are nothing more than bad faith actors.

You can't see the idiocy of your own argument.
You hear from 2 different people that you're "inserting" the trans issue into a subject that is patently NOT ABOUT trans people, and largely does not affect any of them (at least not as a result of their being trans).

This is the equivalent of claiming that white privilege is a trans issue... or that social security running out of money is a trans issue...

Just when are you going to make Trump's loss in 2020 a trans issue? I can't wait to hear your twisted mind make a "logical" attempt to make THAT jump!

@raphjd said in Is it legal to protest outside justices’ homes? The law suggests NO:

@bi4smooth

Did you read the bit about the federal law that bans this kind of thing?

The federal law (discussed in the article) clearly makes this illegal, even though the White House and DOJ are ignoring it because it suits their agendas.

ROFL - you act as-if the law is clear-cut and boundless... so, all those demonstrators in front of the White House are terrorists (and are in violation of this law)... because the White House is the residence of the US President!

Likewise, people demonstrating outside Speaker Pelosi's house every day should be arrested and deported to their ancestral homes....

Balderdash - of course there are limits (which is what the law REALLY addresses)...

but for YOU - nah... for YOU it's more like:

• Speech I agree with is PROTECTED, 1st Amendment Speech!
• Speech I *disagree with is terrorism and must be stopped and punished!

Someone's news feed from the Kremlin has been cut...
now we get random right-wing shit from YouTube?

That's telling!