Jump to content

Brisketexan

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    51766
  • Joined

  • Days Won

    301

Posts posted by Brisketexan

  1. 22 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

    Then how can you have a fair opinion of the current cable news channels? 

    I've watched enough.  And I occasionally listen to them on XM when driving.  I've got a pretty comfortable feel for CNN, MSNBC, Fox, NPR, and the BBC's on-air presentation.  I'll further note that the most objective, least bombastic of those sources -- NPR and the BBC -- are distant also-rans in the American marketplace.  You can fellate MSNBC all you want, but from a non-fanboi view, it's clearly feeding the appetite of left-side news consumers.

    • Like 1
  2. 9 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

    Laugh all you want but a large segment of frustrated, restless males are not good for any society. The almost demonization of masculinity by some segments of society has and will cause a backlash and the GOP is the party to harness its for political gain. Basically, what I am saying is that the GOP only has old, white males to court is a very false assumption to make.

    There's not a movement demonizing masculinity.

    There's a moment demonizing those who utterly fail at it.  Incels, ignorant dipshits who don't have the balls to move where the jobs are, ignorant dipshits who take no responsibility for their own fate (hint: dropping out of high school to be a coal miner wasn't a sound choice) but instead blame nameless brown people for their suffering, etc. etc.

    If you're secure in your masculinity, don't feel the need to flex it at the expense of other human beings, and take responsibility for your own shit and solve your own problems, 1) you're a man, and 2) nobody's shitting on you for it.

    The GOP has old white males.  And it has some younger gutless losers, too -- the types who need to pose and talk tough as a substitute for actually BEING tough.

    • Like 6
  3. 1 minute ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

    Do you watch MSNBC?

    Not often.  I don't really consume much cable news.  I listen to NPR, I read the Economist, and I read daily updates from a variety of sources online.

  4. 7 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

    MSNBC has more conservatives on their shows than CNN or Fox News.  They’re just not cult 45 clowns like Santorum or Sebastian Gorka.

    That’s why they’re winning. 

    It’s not because they’ve embraced some liberal agenda. 

    Disagree.  Strongly.  For all of the hell that CNN catches, it at least goes through the motions of trying to be a somewhat objective news outlet.  Most American consumers do NOT want that product.

    Instead, they want a product that feeds their confirmation bias by direct IV injection.  Thus, the successful outlets are Fox and MSNBC.

    Shorter version - there is no market for smart, because we're stupid.

  5. 7 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

    The lack of knowledge the Rs have about other states is fucking jaw dropping.

    It also polishes to a perfect transparency every bit of their reasoning behind all of their "voter integrity" actions.  One purpose.  One purpose only.  Disenfranchise minority voters.

    When a party goes all-in on being the white supremacist party, such an approach is a necessary part of that plan.  They don't have a backup plan (like, say, don't be fucking white supremacists who dog whistle ever 2.1 seconds).  Hell, I read an article by a Republican strategist the other day about how the party needs to look at the makeup of Congress as a wakeup call  -- the Dems do much better with women and minorities, so they MUST work to gain their votes.  It was a lengthy piece....with literally ZERO suggestions on how to accomplish that goal, policy-wise.  The most he could muster is "hey, we have some female GOP officeholders, we should get them some more publicity."  In short....they have nothing.  They are what they are -- the white supremacist party. And they have to run the plays you would expect from such a party.

     

    • Like 2
  6. 11 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

    The thing is that the number 1 job of any elected official is to get re-elected. The GOP today represents the absolute lowest common denominator in the electorate, and as such, the party cannot afford to piss them off lest they lose their seat. In this situation, they cannot afford to go after Trump or to get out of the Democrats' way in pursuit of Trump. They have to defend him...or else. They have to do it because Trump is a demagogue and his supporters bought every line of his bullshit hook, line and fucking sinker, and there's nothing that can separate them from that, which is why Trump's approval rating will never get close to 0. Sure, it may dip beneath 33% or so, but the point is there's a floor for it no matter how rotten he is.

    And....you get it.  The dreams of 'the GOP will abandon Trump when the facts get bad enough" are less attainable and realistic than my dream of a weekend of exotic delights on a private island with Sela Ward and Scarlett Johansson.  They are never leaving him.  They are all-in on Trumpism, which now makes their continued support necessary for their ongoing survival.  They have sailed out to sea in the shittacular boat that is the SS Trump.  Staying in the boat is likely death when it sinks.  Abandoning ship in the middle of the sea is certain death.  They put themselves in a position where they only have shitty choices.  They are choosing the least-shitty path....presuming that their priority is solely to win elections (and, of course, it is).  They are never deviating from that path.

    Again, wishing and hoping for the GOP to become a decent and sane political party is a complete waste of time.

  7. 5 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

    I told an old friend of mine a few months back that if she'd ever told me I'd be a single-party voter, I'd never have believed it, and if she'd told me that it'd be for the Democrats, I'd have laughed at it. And yet, here we are.

    I did so, so that Congress would do what they are supposed to do in this situation, and what they are doing now: Act as a check on presidential authority.

    In the long run, I don't blame Trump for being Trump. I don't even blame the voters for Trump. I absolutely blame Mitch McConnell and the GOP members who are enabling him and refusing to assert the authority they have.

    And if you're a Republican right now, you need to be as terrified of what's going on as the Democrats are: When a Democrat is elected president, do you want that person wielding, unchecked, the power that Trump is attempting to wield right now? Trump's efforts must fail, because if they do not, there is nothing preventing a Democrat president from, say, taking away all of your guns, locking up churches, doing whatever he wants because of made-up "Emergency Powers."

    Like Cohen said: Trump's not in this for you, he's in it 100% for himself. He doesn't care what he destroys along the way. Congress opposing him successfully is ultimately going to protect your interests as well as mine.

    I didn't stop being Conservative. The GOP did.

    Bottom line, the GOP is doing more to destroy the institution that is the Office of President of the United States than they ever imagined/accused Obama of doing -- and many, they imagined a LOT back then.

    Trump is a deranged narcissist shitbag.  Okay.  But he is an isolated, limited shitbag if Congress will do its job.  Mitch McConnel and the GOP are not only NOT doing their job as a representative body....they are doing everything they can to run INTERFERENCE for Trump.  Their complicity will go down as one of the more shameful episodes in our political history.

    • Like 3
  8. 10 hours ago, Rimbo said:

    To be fair, I was one of those guys who thought Clinton should've been impeached and convicted for perjury.

    And I'm one of those guys who thinks Trump should finish his term from the inside of a very dark prison cell.

    Call me weird, but I expect the president to not commit crimes, before OR during his time in office.

    Whether there's an R or a D next to his name is irrelevant. And it shouldn't be relevant.

    That's kind of the point.  Fraud and criminal activity undermine the rule of law.  Which is like, the OPPOSITE of the job of POTUS.  It's perhaps the only truly disqualifying event.  And the GOP argued just that, for years.....and I agreed with them.  Now, all they do is whistle, pretend it didn't happen, or say "well, but he didn't personally actually enter into a signed agreement with Putin to interfere in our elections, so HE DID NOTHING WRONG."

    Seriously.  The GOP is looking upon someone who has been on a decades-long spree of financial and election law crimes, and saying "but he didn't MURDER anyone, so leave him alone!"*

     

    *And of course, we all know that even if he HAD murdered someone, they would move the goalposts to "but he didn't commit MASS-MURDER, so leave him alone!"

  9. Man....y’all remember when it was a reflection of conservative values that we HAD to impeach the president for lying...about a blowjob? I sure do. Actually agreed with it too, because lying undermines the very rule of law that the president is charged with upholding.

    Trump lying about a blowjob wouldn’t even move the needle when put up against all the other shit he’s lied and deceived about. But those conservative values, about honesty and the rule of law....man....they musta gotten caught in a black hole or something.

    Republicans, we’re all looking at you, and laughing at you. You’re making glorious fucking asses of yourselves.

    • Like 2
  10. 8 minutes ago, Horndog said:

    31% of Americans believe that the Holocaust did not occur or that the number of Jews killed is exaggerated.

    38% of Americans believe that God created the earth and  humans  in their present form less than 10,000 years ago.  

    26% of Americans believe the sun orbits around the earth.

    39% of Americans deny climate change or human causes.

    41% of Americans believe that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time.

    I submit that there is almost complete overlap in these groups.

    FIF accuracy.

     

    Oh, also, when someone finds the best post-game summary -- something that just contains the most relevant plays -- please share.  Some of us had to work today, and hardly heard any of it.

    Although I did have lunch with a judge today, and we talked about the little bit we heard, but only to discuss the fact that Congressional cross-examination is PAINFULLY craptacular for a trial lawyer to listen to.

  11. Thanks so much for this. I have them both added to a queue I've started organizing.
    One of the reasons I like this board is that I'm interacting with professionals across many different walks of life. Has anyone here ever tried starting a thread for discussing political non-fiction books? I've been particularly interested to books from non-batshit conservatives or religious people because I think bringing their voices back to the public discussion would be a Good Thing for everyone. Especially if we can start having conversations exclusively between people that have ponied up the certain amount of time it takes to read a "boring" non-fiction book.

    [2019 Murica] Books are for fags. [/2019 Murica]
    • Like 1
  12. Exactamundo. Religion, whether Christianity, Muslim, Jewish or Hindu or whatever is a path, not an end. 
    It’s like Steve Martin’s dad said in the movie parenthood, you never get to spike the ball and declare victory. The pain never ends.
    You just keep striving for goodness. Someday it will all end. And at that point, you can only hope you tried your best to reach a good ending point. 

    And pay attention to the folks following the path around you. Help them out whenever you can. Walk the path, realize that we walk it together. Journey, not the destination, all that stuff.
    • Like 1
  13. First by my parents beliefs. Both who survived the Second World War on the losing side. Then when my oldest brother was killed while seeing the sites in Southeast Asia in 1967 it led to a period of reflection. I was a scared kid, and I didn’t want my life to end that way. 
    As I got older I became suspicious of many of those who sat in the power positions of organized religion. First as a Catholic, then as a Methodist. But, I saw first hand as an elected member of a pastor parish relations committee how money was “distributed” for church expenditures. The decisions often seemed unfair. And didn’t really help those that needed the very faith the church claimed to be providing. So I separated from those organizations.
    By my early 30’s I decided to hitchhike  from Damascus to Jerusalem. Believing that because I didn’t do enough for others i was being punished. And that such an experience to the holiest of places perhaps I could find my way. It was this experience that caused me to believe my god had abandoned me. Simply because my continued failure or inability if you will, to reach out and help those who could not help themselves. Because I cared more about what I owned, as opposed to how I acted. But I was overcome by how much suffering I saw. I returned a cynic, and fell into despair.
    Yet, I continued to read the Bible and pray every day. But I do it privately. And I changed my lifestyle. I decided that if I could just follow the Ten Commandments I would have at least accomplished something. The result was that I harbor no ill feelings for anyone. I will share whatever I have, whenever I see someone in need. I believe that people are good. And I also understand that not everyone gets the same opportunity, and never will. And how an act of kindness, no matter how small. Could potentially change someone’s life. Especially when you are honest with yourself and believe that you will receive  absolutely nothing in return. Those simple acts are the most important things I have done with my life. And I don’t like anyone telling me that I’m wrong who has not walked a similar path.

    I really like this post.
    Christianity is a way and a path, not a destination. Nobody gets it right, nobody gets to the top of the mountain. That’s the point.
    • Like 2
  14. 18 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

    I don't know, man. The people bringing food, clean water, medicine and care to those in need see pretty likable. 

    But those people aren't the ones running our country right now.  In fact, those people are stridently OPPOSED by those running our country right now.

    The folks running the country have the spotlight. And those folks are dominionists, jerks like Falwell and Jeffers, and they actively support policies and actions to shit all over the neediest and most vulnerable (and, you know, putting the most vulnerable of THAT group in kiddie jails, separated from their parents).

    To the rest of the world, "Christian Values" are defined by those with the bully pulpit who shout loud and often what those values are.  The problem is, from that pulpit, the primary value is "be a dick to others."  So, your pool of decent folks -- and I know hundreds in that pool, and participate actively in such efforts -- are pretty irrelevant.  The brand of public Christianity is "be a buncha dicks."  That's a pretty stout brand.

  15.  

    1 minute ago, hopkinsnhorns said:

    I'mma go out on a limb here and guess that the vast majority of the arrests made by Goines were of those who couldn't afford bail, let alone their own attorney.  Should that be the case, they might not even know their guns were stolen by Goines until after their court proceedings were complete.  If that is the case, and it's been weeks or months after the raid, the cops would have plausible deniability should a citizen make a complaint about a firearm being taken but not listed on the inventory.  It could have easily been stolen from the ransacked apartment/house in the time that the accused sat in jail waiting for the wheels of justice.

    I doubt many of the appointed attorneys were finding their clients' denials convincing, so they were most likely looking to plea down vs. fight the system.  Ergo, Goines was basically operating with immunity.

    This.  Poor defendants aren't gonna know their 9mm is missing, because they can't get back to the scene.  And even if they did, it's often a felony for them to be in possession -- so they're gonna tell their public defender "hey, ask the cops what happened to my illegal 9mm in my top dresser drawer?"  Nope.

    Just now, Johnny Sack said:

    Was that the case where they tossed that Mexican guy in a ditch and he drowned?

    Nope.  The Webster shooting.  The drowning murder was an entirely different case.  See any patterns here?

  16. 56 minutes ago, 4th and 5 said:

    I doubt this is the case. Defense lawyers would be told this and make a stink unless the firearm was stolen, in which case the defendant would have probably been charged anyway. And theft of a firearm is a Texas felony and federal felony, and with firearms having serial numbers, it is much unlike pocketing some drug dealers cash or drugs. Not worth the exposure.

    Yeah.  HPD would never do anything like that.  Except, you know, it's a documented fact (from an actual court case) that it was a widespread department practice (read the below, and understand that "throwdowns" often came via seizing a gun from an earlier suspect):

    Quote
    28

    Tragedy did not deter the officers from considering practicalities. What to do about the "mess"? According to Officer Holloway, "Tommy (Olin) was standing there talking ... and Byrd walked up to me and asked if we needed a throw down.... I said, 'I don't know.' That would be up to Danny Mays and Tommy Olin. It was their shooting and it is their mess."

    29

    A "throw down", the starring role in this tragedy, is a weapon which police officers, having killed (or wounded) an unarmed suspect, can put at his side to justify the shooting. How common was this practice? The officers, testifying at trial, made clear that a throw down was "common knowledge". Officer Holloway: "I had several officers tell me that if I needed a throw down that they had one or knew where they could get one." He continued, "I know that maybe the Department and the City and the news media were trying to say that we were the first ones that admitted this throw down, but that has been a part of police work long before I came on the streets." Officer Dillon concurred. "It would be brought up like when (instructors at the Police Academy) would be sitting at various crime scenes for instruction, it would be casually mentioned that if you ever shot anyone accidentally, well, you had best have something to lay down to protect yourself." Officer Byrd, who provided the throw down, explained,

    30

    Q: How many officers or what percentage of officers either carried a throw down in 1977 or had access to a throw down?

    31

    A: I would say 75-80% of them.

    32

    Q: Was that common knowledge on the force back in February of '77?

    33

    A: Yes.

    34

    Q: It wasn't unusual at all at the Webster scene that there were two officers that had a throw down?

    35

    A: It wasn't unusual, no.

    36

    Q: Pretty much common practice?

    37

    A: Most of the officers either carried a knife or a gun.

    38

    Q: It was pretty much an accepted practice that there would be a throw down at any one given situation if needed?

    39

    A: Right. Not any set policy or anything like that, but it was just a situation just to cover yourself on an individual basis.

    The risk is too high?  It can't happen here?

    It literally has happened -- hundreds/thousands of times.  You think that STOPPED after the Webster case?

    • Like 1
  17. 14 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

    sadly you don't have to leave this page to see self-professing Christians demonizing and treating other self-professing Christians with no respect or any kindness either. 

    Oh, maybe my FAVORITE fundagelical play -- tolerance is only important to the extent that it can be used to attack those who criticize people for being cruelly intolerant.

    "The Liberty University crowd not only tolerates the seven deadly sins in their false idols, they celebrate them if the idol can be sufficiently cold and cruel to brown people -- but the REAL issue here is how y'all are not treating the Liberty University crowd with respect and kindness!"

    Waving around "tolerance!" and "respect and kindness!" as a shield against criticism of their own acts of cruelty and intolerance.....well, that may be PEAK modern American Christianity.  It's one of my favorite things to watch.

    • Like 2
Ă—
Ă—
  • Create New...