The Hofoid House of Absurd & Ignorant Posts VII

[AtorBoltox]

People should also remember that Afghanistan is basically just the part of India that the British and others couldn't conquer.

[AtorBoltox]

Most celebrities turned very quickly against Cosby once the allegations against him came out, but they've been rather silent on Harvey Weinstein. Why is that?

The accusations against Cosby were known about for like 20 years at least.

Anyway, is Weinstein accused of rape? Being accused of sexually harassment is very different than being accused of rape. Especially if you give the people you sexually harassed like a million dollars each. If your boss tells you "nice ass", that's bad but I think if he gives you a million bucks afterwards it kind of cancels out the badness.

[AtorBoltox]

1. Collusion is not a federal crime.

''Collusion, even if it were to be established, isn’t a crime. You have to find something that actually violates the federal criminal statutes. I don’t think they’re even close to that.” - liberal Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz in a recent appearance on Fox News

2. History is full of examples of people colluding with foreign powers to defeat domestic opposition. The idea that it is unpatriotic to get another country to help you defeat people you consider damaging to the country is certainly a strange one, especially in a country that only exists because a bunch of rebels got France and Spain to help them drive out the forces of the country that established the colonies from which it was formed. If Hillary had enlisted a foreign power to help her win, I would have at least understood the motivation behind it; and I would have considered her an enemy of the nation because of her ideology (as I do now), not because another country helped her.

I say all of this as someone who supported a right-wing third-party candidate last year and didn't vote for Trump, but now supports him and wants the forces opposing him (i.e. the coalition of liberals, leftists and globalist ''conservatives'') to lose.

[AtorBoltox]

Am I the only one who is marveling at 18-25 year olds?

If I'm reading it correctly, they make up only 4.28% of expected voters but they prefer Gillespie
by 65-23.

Gen Z is conservative, despite the democrats denial.

The super liberal NYT went to talk to NFL fans about the national anthem controversy and here is what the Gen Z they interviewed said:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Called Trump arrogant but agreed with him, confirming my opinion that people hate Trump's antics but agree with him in a lot of stuff, meanwhile, called the players disrespectful. Gen Z is clearly sick of liberal overreach.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/sports/football/nfl-trump-patriots.html

I have already seen Gen Z polls before about it. And my anecdotal experience from hearing kiddies in CoD/League of Legends confirms it as well. I hear nothing but praise for Trump.

Problems with this
1-Actually believing that Gillepsie is ahead of Northam 65-23 among millennials and that isn't either a typo or just a junk poll
2-Believing that one random kid disapproving of the NFL protests/LOL players liking Trump is definitive proof that Gen Z is conservative

[AtorBoltox]

Guys, stop harassing Republicans here, we did not like it when it happened to us, so let's not be nearly as low. Be gracious and thankful. For all Republican non trolls on here (which is like 85% of all Republicans here) I apologize for this behavior, it is not in the true spirit of the democratic party, neither are the alt-leftie/y "purists".

[AtorBoltox]

Overpopulation is a key contributor to climate change,

No it's not.

[AtorBoltox]

Does Trump's base actually like Ivanka or care what she thinks? Serious question.

Nice sig.

Listen I am starting to think that Moore is recovering and will win 2-5 point victory.
I also think the stuff about him is fake news because the yearbook person says she started working st the restaurant when she was 15 but other coworkers say that’s not true because you have to be 16 and she said the trash cans were on the back of the building they were on the side. She said that it would close at 10PM coworkers said that it was 12AM.

[AtorBoltox]

Some observations from a Russian person, who spent part of his life in US.....

1. I hate Roy Moore. And even not because of the last scandal (which, of course, must be carefully investigated, and, if supported by FACTS (not words) - all neccessary measures against him must be taken, American law contains all, what's needed, for that), but more so because of his generally ultraextreme positions on a lot of issues (i generally hate all extremists, be them "right" or "left"). But i still think he will be elected, albeit narrowly. The accusations came too early, they will not fade completely, but they will subside enough to give him win in really conservative Albama. As i also said - too many Alabama's Republicans and Indies will be brought back by 100% pro-choice position of Jones. In the end it will outweigh...

2. While i hate Roy Moore - i have no respect for his women accusers, who charge him with anything (from inapproprieties to crimes) NOW, 20-30 years after everything happened. I would respect them a lot if they would do that immediately after what happened, or, at least, soon enough after that, but 20-30 years later? One can't NOT to think that it was simply an appropriate moment to get a revenge (and, may be, considerable material compensation) - and nothing more. There is a very old and admittedly - very sexist - Russian anecdote about 80-years old woman crying "rape" on city street.. I will not quote it here, but most of you will wasily guess an idea.

3. While i (and almost all people in Russia) fully support a principle of political and economical equality between genders , most people here (including vast majority of women) have no other word then "crazies" about US feminist movement, which, seemingly, more conserned about why "professor" is a "masculine"  word, and how to call woman professor "genderly correct", then about these above mentioned  problems of political and economic equality. And, yes, vast majority of Russian woman (there are some ultrafeminists too, but - not many) want men's attention (i would even say - frequently crave for that). And yes - they want to get married, say "thank you!" when man gives them way in transport, or when he pays for BOTH in restaurants.  And i agree with them - there is nothing humiliating in that. Woman in Russia can (legitimately) call man "a fool" if he tries to slap her ass, or even - slap him in the face, but i  don't think about anything else possible, and, surely, it wouldn't be a first page news in Russian press for weeks. For good or for bad - feel the difference. But i never saw so frightened (or even "terrorized") by feminist movement men in Russia as i saw in the West.....

We're getting to the point where every post in the Alabama senate thread belongs here

[AtorBoltox]

Good.

When was the last time Americans got a tax cut ? Can't remember.

[AtorBoltox]

Why did they want that deal with Iran so bad? It was such a one sided crappy deal.

Because without that deal, Iran would have carried on developing nuclear weapons and there would have been a very expensive war.

Where was it ever confirmed that Iran was developing nuclear weapons?

[AtorBoltox]

His point is he wants millennials to get involved in politics. Please don't take this out of context as I did when I saw the headline.

Millennials + Politics = Communism

Gen Z (Todays Middle and High schoolers) is the most conservative generation since baby boomers.

I'm sure the generation that is over 50% majority miniority will welcome the racist GOP with open arms.

I keep hearing that Trump and the republican party is the new counterculture, but so far evidence all points to them being liberal.

Also I know a lot of people who were republican until they turned 17/18 (I'm one of them)

Stop.
Trump does not represent the GOP.

[AtorBoltox]

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article197603534.html

During a speech to pastors in Kansas City in December, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley linked the problem of sex trafficking to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Hawley, the top Republican prospect to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill in November, launched a new unit in the attorney general’s office focused on fighting human trafficking a few months into his first year in office.

During a speech at a “Pastors and Pews” event hosted by the Missouri Renewal Project, Hawley tied the issue to the sexual revolution, the cultural shift in the 1960s and 1970s that eliminated the social stigma for premarital sex and contraception that had been commonplace in the United States during previous decades.

“We have a human trafficking crisis in our state and in this city and in our country because people are willing to purchase women, young women, and treat them like commodities. There is a market for it. Why is there? Because our culture has completely lost its way. The sexual revolution has led to exploitation of women on a scale that we would never have imagined, never have imagined,” Hawley told the crowd in audio obtained by The Star this week.

Endorsed. (Though I wish he hadn't used the heterosexual crutch, I can accept it.)

If the media attempts to make a scandal out of this, Hawley will benefit. This is a position extreme enough to be endorsed in the editorial pages of The Atlantic, New York Times, and Washington Post. This is standard third-wave feminism, and his statement addressing the leak (in the article above) is perfect:

Hawley’s campaign spokeswoman, Kelli Ford, said the candidate’s comments about the links between trafficking and the sexual revolution do not need clarification.

“Attorney General Hawley has spoken at length about this, so I’m not sure what part was unclear,” Ford said in an email.

“We now have a sex trafficking epidemic because too many men view women as objects for their own gratification and control. Hollywood and the media have promoted this attitude for decades, and it is wrong,” she said. “Attorney General Hawley regularly challenges audiences to get serious about sex trafficking by getting serious about changing male attitudes toward women, so that all women are treated with respect, equality, and dignity.”

It would not surprise me if Hawley's campaign leaked this themselves, given how well they've spun it.

[AtorBoltox]

Kasich. He promotes himself as a reasonable Republican then promotes a far right wing abortion bill. He's just as bad as all the other slimy Republicans.

Just because someone isn't moderate about abortion doesn't mean that they are not overall a moderate. I'm moderate and I am against abortion.

He's not a moderate. In fact, Moderate Republicans have gone extinct.

Yeah, Susan Collins and Charlie Baker are fake news!

You’re not supposed to post directly into the thread...

[AtorBoltox]

While the 18th amendment was repealed and all 50 states allow some alcohol sales and consumption, all 50 states still ban drinking in public, all 50 states heavily restrict where alcohol is sold, American Medical Association will call you an "alcoholic" if you drink at certain times of day or drink amounts of alcohol that aren't dangerous, and there's a social stigma surrounding "needing alcohol to have fun".

[AtorBoltox]

They want to pimp out their friend’s deaths and make a statement? Well then we the people have the right to answer them. The ultimate victory of the NRA this time around will be an important life lesson for them anyway: you can’t always get what you want.

Mods please ban.

You can leave. You don't have to wait until you're banned.  If you want an echo chamber, go elsewhere.

What wonderful mods we have!

Thank you. Freedom includes the freedom to be an idiot. As long as people don't post lies or attacks, I have far better things to worry about than what a random poster posts. Calling people despicable or the like may be cathartic, but it doesn't win arguments.

[AtorBoltox]

[AtorBoltox]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

[AtorBoltox]

To millions of ordinary Americans, the Mueller investigation appears to be a politically motivated fishing expedition, being undertaken to discover other embarrassing aspects of Trump's life, and to get the down-low on Trump's tax returns.  Lots of sound and fury comes forth, lots of information that we are told is "troubling", but never really any conclusive proof that Trump should be removed from office.  The counterargument to that assertion is rather unconvincing.  There are many reasons folks could come up with to conclude that they ought not vote for Trump in 2020, but those are POLITICAL questions to be decided at the ballot box.  

Mueller has a 28 favorable - 18 unfavorable rating. People approve of the FBI 48 - 32.

Sure, that means millions of people see Mueller and the FBI as witch hunters.

But millions of people also thought George Bush did 9/11, and they are morons.

The American people are more on the side of Anti-Trump than Pro-Trump, as is shown by the historic landslides democrats have been getting in special elections (overperforming Hillary by 13% which means a 15% D vs R win because Trump lost the popular vote). And this is with the economy being pretty good. Imagine what happens if we get into a recession..................

I'll leave that up to you to imagine.

Until Obamacare was put forth, Democrats did well in special elections in Obama's first term.  There is nnothing "historic" about Connor Lamb's victory.

In 1982, I was a Democratic Committeeman on Long Island.  There was a special election for a vacant State Assembly seat.  The Democrats were outnumbered 3.5 to 1 in registration.  But the Democratic candidate brought in all the resources of Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink's machine.  NYC Democratic regulars came to Suffolk for the day in DROVES to pull out the vote.  And the Democrat didn't just win; he won something like 57-43.  1982 was something of a Democratic year, but not THAT much.

The NJ Democratic Governor gain, the AL Senate gain for Democrats, the VA Governor's race all can be explained by LOCAL factors.  To say that any of these races were a referendum on Trump is pushing it; Trump didn't help, but NJ was due to anti-Christie sentiment, AL was due to Roy Moore's taste for the youngsters, and VA is just flat-out demographics moving in the right direction.  If the trend were all that strong, there'd be a Democrat representing MT in Congress and Jon Ossoff would be "the Honorable" with threads on Atlas asking how he'd do running for President in 2020.

Some people are in for a rude awakening this november

[AtorBoltox]

Well, now that it's over I can honestly say that it's time to get behind Lipinski, if only to show the rest of the Country that we in the state of Illinois overwhelmingly hate Illinois Nazis.

Thank you for this very mature statement. It is everyone's job to push back against neo-nazis.

It's too late. The guy already got 12,000 votes. It's the biggest show of support for Nazism in American history. And if he loses in a landslide in November, he'll just point to Le Pen's loss in 2002 and reassert that history is on his side.

[AtorBoltox]

I think part of the issue is the pretense that saying racists are awful is somehow more personal than saying Jews are awful. It isn't really. The standard currently being used is essentially leading to bans of everyone who isn't racist in order to make the forum a safe space for those who are. That's hardly tenable.

The opinion that racists are horrible scum and the world would be better off without them is perfectly political and general. Trying to draw a weird line where you can only hint that this opinion of all racists also holds for individual members of this forum who are racist gets legalistic and silly.

And just who is supposedly "racist" here? You're from Europe, so I suspect you find "racism" under rocks that most Americans wouldn't, like supporting restrictions on legal or illegal immigration. After all, voicing an opinion on the "wrong" side of the immigration debate in Sweden and England can and will get you arrested. Thank God that's not the case in the U.S. - at least for now.

Why should we be importing European definitions of "hate speech" to what's largely an American forum, anyway?

[AtorBoltox]

But tell me again how Democrats are the out-of-touch party.

Again, no one has ever claimed that Democrats were out-of-touch on economic matters, LOL.

[AtorBoltox]

The fact that you think young, black people are so brain dead that they would vote for a racist due to a rapper is insulting.

If he was racist than why is Kanye endorsing him?

How exactly is Trump racist towards black people? (I don't even like him.)


You don't even have to carefully dissect this post just to see the obvious wrong with it.

[AtorBoltox]

FWIW, I talked to my uncle today about this race. He's from WV originally, is a strong Trumpist, and instilled in our family a deep hatred of Blankenship and his practices. He's rooting for Blankenship now.

Why? He's become so disillusioned with the hypocrisy of the FBI/DoJ in regards to how they handled Trump/Clinton that he's become convinced that Blankenship's prosecution may have been political the whole time. And while I don't entirely agree, I can't help but think that a) that kind of thinking is more than justified even if I disagree in this individual case, b) I think many West Virginians agree.

These people aren't dumb hicks. The relative in question here spends his days driving a truck, and he listens to NPR, C-SPAN, and the SiriusXM channels literally all day. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Russiagate's timeline that I envy, as I've long lost track of what all has transpired. He and his octogenarian mother who still lives up there talk about this stuff. This story isn't being ignored by Trump Country; quite the contrary, they're following it far more intensely than the opposition, and their rage is growing stronger.

It's part of the reason why I think that Trump will be reelected and that the midterms will largely be a draw. I'm actually beginning to think that Blankenship can actually win, in the sense that if he can win over my Uncle of all people, than he probably can win over enough swing voters to win in general.

Another thing to take into account is that Joe Manchin is unpopular, especially since he shamelessly used a thousand year flood for a bunch of photo-ops and a trip to the Greenbriar. His approvals are starting to drop off dramatically, and I think his attempt to portray himself as the real populist in the race is threatened by Blankenship in a way that Jenkins or Morrissey would envy.

Of course Blankenship is a criminal coal executive billionaire and a complete fraud, but whatever. If there is anything I've learned about politics from observing and participating, its the economy message stupid! Trump is living proof that a proper message can overcome even the most odious character flaws.

I don't think Blankenship is another Roy Moore though. Roy Moore's scandals came out after he won the primary. I think Blakenship, like Trump, has already aired out his dirty laundry.

TL;DR: A bunch of anecdotal regurgitations of what my relatives up there are thinking and what the informal consensus in (at least their immediate) bubble is like.

[AtorBoltox]

So just exactly what do we do to deter foreigners from attempting to enter our country illegally?

Just exactly what do we do to deter foreigners from staying past the point where their visas expire and they have to leave the US?

I don't agree with separating children from parents if the illegal entry is not a crime.  But it IS a crime for a previously deported alien to illegally enter the US after being deported and removed.  The drug addict who commits a grand theft stealing your identity and your money from the skimmer they installed in their workplace at the fast food restaurant you pick up your Double Greaser with Fries and Diet Coke every day will be separated from his/her children when they go to jail. 

No, Trump should not continue this policy.  But the red avatars that would perform partial birth abortion on an 8 month fetus (or be OK with someone who did) don't move me with their version of "the children" argument.  They don't care about kids; they care about discrediting Trump.

So while I say, "Stop this policy immediately!", I am going to ask what needs to be done to resolve the problem of preventing and deterring illegal immigration and what needs to be done to remove illegal immigrants residing here from our country?

Please read the Bible again. You truly need a refresher course.

You’re a lawyer.

[AtorBoltox]

I speak from the perspective of someone who is partly descended from Sicilians, Spaniards, Irish, and English immigrants to the United States.

I think immigration is something that adds more to society than it takes away. It brings forth new perspectives, new ideas, enriches society, contributes to culture. The history of some big city enclaves (like Polish-Americans in Chicago, etc) is rich and adds to the fabric of our history. And economic migration, a major component of immigration to the US both historically and presently,  doesn't come out of thin air - it comes because people live in squalor, poverty, misery. They want to come to the land of opportunity. They want to help their families. They want themselves and/or their children to live a better existence and staying put where they are can make that impossible.

And immigrants are hard-working people who work day and night to support themselves and their loved ones. They mow our lawns, support our economy, staff many low-income jobs. And they work very hard. They are not foreigners stealing our jobs. They are as American as apple pie. They value hard work and they have a strong work ethic. They help build our country. They are hated by too many people, many of whom have a profoundly negative, wrong-headed way of thinking on this issue.

We should be letting in millions of immigrants a year. Because that would not harm our nation, it would enrich it. We need to be lenient on economic migrants and give them a route to citizenship, to reward them for their hard work. We need to allow people who live in violence-ridden countries more leeway to stay in here legally, so that they can escape their unsafe home countries and enjoy the prosperity of this nation. We need to be forgiving and kind to those who reach our shores.

Not everyone who wants to enter the US necessarily should be allowed to (case in point: Mexican drug lords). But too many who want to enter and do have perfectly sensible reasons for doing so are forbidden from doing so because of our broken immigration policy. We need reforms. We need more immigrants of all colors, black, brown, red, and yes, white. And this needs to be paired with a regimen that ensures that a reasonably high amount of people allowed in can be certified as having legitimate reason. Not doing that would actually qualify as open borders, and it would be a terrible open borders policy.

I speak from the perspective of someone who is partly descended from Irish and Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States.

We shouldn't have any more immigration for a very long time.

US citizenship is a great thing, so we shouldn't devalue it further.

I look at US citizenship the way I look at a great romantic/sexual relationship.

If I'm in love with a woman and I have sex with her and I really enjoy it, my first impulse isn't "wow, that was really good...I think every person in the world who wants it should be able to have sex with this woman. I mean, I liked doing it, so it would be unfair to not to allow everyone else on the planet to do it"

No. My impulse is "I would like this woman to stop having sex with additional people from now on. She may have had sex with other people in the past, and that's fine, there's nothing that can be done about that now regardless, but I definitely would prefer her not to have sex with any additional people in the future".

My experience with my partner is not going to be improved by her getting gangbanged by a million poor people.

Nor is the experience of any US citizen going to be improved by allowing additional millions of poor people to immigrate here.