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Post by Optimus on Jan 26, 2021 19:31:41 GMT -5
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Post by Optimus on Jan 26, 2021 12:37:34 GMT -5
No, but the part of me that abhors the spread of misinformation and disinformation would be happy if they did get banned. However, in principle, I'm against such things unless the people are violating TOS. Issue with that, of course, is how inconsistent social media companies (especially Twitter) are in enforcing their TOS, with punishments seeming to be motivated more by political ideology rather than actual objectivity and fairness.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 26, 2021 12:34:58 GMT -5
Let me first go ahead and state that every time a cop kills an unarmed person, it's a tragedy and in most instances likely should be prosecuted as a felony. However, I think the "cops are killing unarmed black men" rhetoric, while important, greviously misrepresents the severity of the issue in the minds of the public. It's one of the more popular "political narratives du jour," but is incredibly misleading almost to the point of brainwashing people (mainly on the left). For example, yesterday NPR released the results of some "in-depth" report they compiled where they counted up every unarmed black person (men and women) killed nationwide by cops over the past 6 years (since 2015). The total number for the entire 6 year period is 135, or roughly 22.5 people per year, out of a population of roughly 42 million people: www.npr.org/2021/01/25/956177021/fatal-police-shootings-of-unarmed-black-people-reveal-troubling-patternsAgain, that's horrible and every one of those deaths is a tragedy. However, to put those numbers into perspective, just this year (since January 1st, 2021), 33 black people have been murdered so far in Chicago: www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-homicides-data-tracker-htmlstory.htmlThere are still over 11 months left in this year. If we assumed that 33 is the per-month average for the rest of the year, then nearly 400 black people will be murdered - in Chicago alone - during this year. That's nearly 3 times the amount in one year in one city than were killed by cops over more than half a decade in the entire country. The overwhelming majority of them will be killed not by white police officers, but by other black men. Yes, as a Democrat, I realize this comes across as a lame conservative talking point, but I think it offers some valuable context to what the most urgent and most deadly issues are - and are not - when it comes to killing anyone. So, why is the "cops are murdering lots of black people every year!" rhetoric so popular? And why do so many activists and media perseverate on it so religiously, while hardly ever acknowledging much bigger problems related to senseless murders in specific communities? To me, while it is certainly an important topic and certainly something that needs to stop, it's basically a fart in a hurricane in terms of overall senseless murders of black people in the US. Maybe I'm missing something, though.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 25, 2021 20:47:15 GMT -5
I think Alex Jones sums everything up nicely here:
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Post by Optimus on Jan 25, 2021 16:41:56 GMT -5
Not necessarily. The "nature vs nurture" debate has been over for decades. It's both and the research usually focuses on trying to figure out how much each contributes to behavior. And, no, we still don't have free will. We only have the illusion of it. The research on this type of stuff is mixed, with some saying that parents have the most influence on children (personality and beliefs) while friends and peer groups have the most influence during adolescence. Of course, the types of friends a teen has is likely strongly influenced by how they were raised, so there's likely some bi-directional influence going on there. I also wonder if the kid's dad has always been like that. For example, Ashli Babbitt (woman who was shot/killed storming the Capitol) was apparently an Obama voter but her dislike of Hillary turned her to Trump. I'm guessing once she dove down that rabbit hole (Babbit hole?), she got swept up in a shit wave of misinformation. So, I wonder if this kid's dad might've been similar, where he used to be pretty reasonable but then something happened over the past 4 years.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 24, 2021 21:51:54 GMT -5
Why is it that the fools who stormed the Capitol in DC are treated as domestic terrorists (I agree that they are), but these antifa fucks aren't?
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Post by Optimus on Jan 24, 2021 16:13:28 GMT -5
It'll be kind of interesting to see the various ways in which the GOP flails its arms, eats its young, and jokes on its own vomit over the next 6 months or so. It's definitely in the throes of directionless panic, or at least on the cusp of it, which kind of warms my heart to sit back and watch.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 21, 2021 1:54:18 GMT -5
It's from all the cold winters and salty-ass ketchup chips.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 21, 2021 1:14:29 GMT -5
Got it. I am coming to understand how this board works. Thanks for nodding in at the window. New dude flake out already? Apparently. Guess I was a bit too harsh, but I was annoyed. I'll be fluffier and cuddlier next time.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 20, 2021 17:16:07 GMT -5
LOL! I'm glad I'm not a defense lawyer. They often have to come up with defense strategies so ridiculous/stupid that it calls into question their own intelligence. Of course, that's their job, but I just don't think I'd be able to bring myself to come up with some of the absurd crap that I've seen in some trials (however, for the right price, I suppose I'd throw that ideological stance out the window. Like any good lawyer ).
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Post by Optimus on Jan 20, 2021 14:25:16 GMT -5
Cuomo grandstanding and posturing? I don't believe it... His whole "we're gonna sue Joe Biden for our money!" before Biden had even taken office was just dumb, in my opinion. That's the grandstanding in this particular case. I wonder if he'd even bothered to ask Biden's team or Pelos/Schumer about any of this before he started talking about lawsuits? I mean, at least give Biden a chance to be sworn in and start the job before complaining about him doing a shitty job. I would think those conversations would have or should have been happening behind the scenes, but I wouldn't put it past If NY has been shafted in terms of relief money (knowing Trump and McConnell, I wouldn't doubt that it was), then I don't blame Cuomo for being upset. But, to be fair, he's also done a shit job of managing that state and a really shitty job during COVID (not nearly as shitty as Trump, though). Enough blame to go around, for sure, though much of it lay at Trump's feet.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 20, 2021 4:43:05 GMT -5
You were responding to a question I asked him. If you didn’t agree with his “victim” statements, you didn’t make that clear in your response to my question to him. I didn't need to. I quoted the exact question of yours that I was responding to. You asked a question. I answered it. For you to assume that because I answered a question that you asked (supposedly to someone else) that it somehow means that I also agree with everything someone else said in an earlier post is...odd, to say the least. Your assumption does not logically follow from anything in my post. If you want to blather on about whether some states are playing victims and others actually are victims, and how unfairly NY was treated by Trump, then please direct that at Rob or someone who has argued that (i.e., someone who cares). As I pointed out earlier, I don't give a shit about any of that. It's completely unrelated to anything I've said in this thread. You're arguing with the wrong person and you're doing a really poor job of it. You asked a question. I answered it. That's it.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 20, 2021 0:27:32 GMT -5
Okay, no it doesn't because that fiscal year was 2019 (from April 2019 to March 2020), long before COVID showed any significant financial impact. You asked how much debt NY had before COVID, which is what I provided. You also seem to have missed where I added info from fiscal year 2020, which actually shows a slight, though non-significant, decrease in debt. NY started FY 2020 with a $10 billion budget deficit (again, pre-COVID). It wasn't until after they didn't get the additional federal aid that they wanted that they were somehow suddenly able to cut $10.1 billion from the budget. Amazing how easy it is to do that when they actually try. Uh...not sure who you're ranting at, but I never claimed that NY was acting like a "victim state." Never mentioned anything close to that. Perhaps that was one of Rob's claims? You asked for NY State's pre-COVID debt. That's what I gave, along with info on NYC for some deeper context. I don't really care about all the "something something victim state," because it's not my argument. I think NY's problems are partly due to them getting the shaft in terms of funding, but also partly to do with Cuomo's incompetence. Same as I said for NYC and de Blasio. Because Mitch McConnell is an evil scumbag who cares about no one but himself, and Trump is a petulant, shit-for-brains man baby who holds grudges like a middle school child.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 19, 2021 19:07:48 GMT -5
And how much, exactly, was NY in a state of financial woe Prior to COVID? $61 billion in outstanding debt for fiscal year 2019-2020 (page 25): www.osc.state.ny.us/files/reports/finance/pdf/2020-financial-condition-report.pdfHowever, this is only roughly a $1.5 billion increase from 2018-2019, where the outstanding debt was $59.6 billion: www.osc.state.ny.us/files/reports/finance/pdf/2019-financial-condition-report.pdfCuomo also managed to create a $6.1 billion deficit in his budget for 2019, so the slight negative movement on the debt in 2020 is basically 100% his fault: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-13/cuomo-runs-up-6-1-billion-n-y-deficit-despite-strong-economyCurrent projections for NY State's debt for fiscal year 2020-2021 show a debt of $57 billion (full official report will likely come out after March, when FY 2020 ends): www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy21/exec/agencies/appropdata/DebtService.htmlSo, despite COVID and all of the revenue shortfalls it has caused, the debt actually decreased in 2020, suggesting (to me) that Cuomo's bullshit posturing and grandstanding is just that; bullshit posturing and grandstanding (possibly to lay the groundwork that he's a "strong, NY tough guy leader" for his eventual Presidential run). De Blasio is failing even worse, managing a roughly $106 billion debt for NYC for 2019-2020: comptroller.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/documents/Fiscal-Year-2019-Annual-Report-on-Capital-Debt-and-Obligations.pdfFrom page 5 of that report: "The City’s FY 2019 general debt-incurring power of $106.24 billion is projected to increase to $111.72 billion in FY 2020, $117.77 billion in FY 2021 and $123.54 billion by FY 2022."
De Blasio exceeded all expectations, yet again, because rather than the 2020 debt increasing to $111 billion, it skyrocketed to $125 billion: cbcny.org/research/nyc-debt-outstandingI doubt that's completely attibutable to COVID. More likely a toxic combination of COVID + the same managerial incompetence De Blasio has consistently shown his entire time in office.
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Post by Optimus on Jan 19, 2021 14:50:40 GMT -5
Well, Amy Siskind is an extremist "Resistance" activist kook, so that tweet's not really out of the ordinary for her. However, I'm not sure what this has to do with Biden? She's not a politician or a Biden appointee. She's just a nutjob on Twitter. No need to actually take anything she says seriously.
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