BarneyPiccolo @ BarneyPiccolo @lemmings.world

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Me, but that's because Reddit permabanned me on the post- inauguration bloodbath.

In some ways I like Lemmy a lot better for things like politics. It doesn't have all the puns, trolls, Russian Propaganda Farmers, bots, novelty accounts, etc., so while they are fewer comments, they tend to be more substantial. I can also mostly say what I think without getting suspended.

On the other hand, I miss some of the personal forums, which are far more active on Reddit. I'd like the guitar forums to be more active, but they barely have any posts. Most have weeks or even months between posts, while Reddits have a constant flow, every minute. I keep saying that I'm going to start posting content as often as possible, but I haven't yet. Maybe I'll start this week.

No impeachments until they know they can get a conviction in the Senate, which is highly unlikely.

Besides, an impeachment only makes Peter Theil (Vance's leash holder) the president, then we're out of the frying pan and into the fire.

No, resist the draft. Drafts are evil, do ANYTHING to avoid fighting a MAGA War. My son is the perfect draft age, and he is NEVER going to fight for MAGA. If they want it so bad, the MAGAs can sacrifice their own.

If he drops a nuke, he instantly becomes the most dangerous man in history, they only guy willing to use a nuke for normal war purposes (for which there are nearly infinite alternative options), and to flex his ego (which has no limit). Now when he threatens a country, they will have to believe him, because he's done it before.

With that in mind, I would think nearly every nation with a highly organized covert intelligence service would decide that it's time to remove that threat from the planet.

Too late, we've been at war for a long time.

...and we'll sink the ships, and have dogfights over the sea, and it will escalate, and hello World War 3!

They aren't innocent, they are knowingly creating a devastating weapon of mass destruction for a regime who has declared that they intend to use it. While I don't support this sort of unprovoked attack, I can't get too worked up over the demise of literally mad scientists.

While you are 100% correct, the Dems could definitely fight much harder to get what they claim they want. My son, and his friends, all felt betrayed when Biden's college loan forgiveness program was shot down, and they just said "Oh well," and dropped the subject, rather than fight for another way. They felt they had been lied to for their vote, and when they were told they couldn't have loan forgiveness just before the 2024 election, you can see why they weren't real thrilled to be voting for the guy who wouldn't help them, but would gladly help Netanyahu commit genocide.

If only the Dems were as committed to forcing their agenda through as they are to having one of their ancient, old school, neo-liberal losers as president. That seems to be all they really care about.

The difference between a million and a billion is about a billion. So even millionaires look like pathetic poors to Billionaires.

42%

"If it wasn't for those Democrats, we'd all be rich!"

It's the POWER that a billion bucks holds that's dangerous. We now have numerous billionaires with enough money to negotiate their own terms with foreign governments, without regard to how it might affect America as a whole. Eventually, world-wide power will be held by the Sociopathic Oligarchs, and instead of countries regulating THEM, they'll be regulating the countries to suit their own selfish purposes.

And eventually, that will lead to Sociopathic Oligarchs making conflicting demands, and they'll end up going to war with each other, with countries and citizens caught in the crossfire.

It's more about lack of Critical Thinking Skills than anything else.

Transpeople and their supporters are falling into a trap set by the MAGA Nazis. They know that by constantly forcing the issue to the forefront, it forces Democrats to defend it, and it not only costs votes and makes them look extreme, but it keeps them from discussing issues that will earn them votes.

FIRST Rule of Politics - Get Elected. If it doesn't get you elected, doesn't attract votes, a campaign has to be ruthless and talk about something else. This is important: It doesn't mean you don't have support, it means that other issues are stronger vote attractors, and that's what counts in an election. Vote for the candidate/party that is more likely to be sympathetic to your cause, even if they don't talk about it, and you know that isn't going to be Republicans. But don't withhold your vote from a Dem candidate just because they didn't make your specific issue their top priority. It doesn't mean it isn't important to them, it just means that other things are more likely to get votes. You certainly aren't going to get what you want from MAGA Nazis.

I'm not a neo-liberal, I'm not even a Democrat, I've been an Unaffiliated Independent for nearly 50 years. I have a son with numerous trans friends whom I love and respect. I am way on your side. But this a WAR, and to achieve your objectives, sometimes you have to sneak up on the enemy. Running directly into the line of fire is not the way to win.

Your real battle is with health care. We need to have universal health care in this country, and when we finally do, there is going to be a war over things with a sexual/gender component like contraception, abortion, and trans health. Fight for health care first, and then you can fight to be included in that, and that will get you much of what you really need most.

I have a similar story with ex-partners, but not as long and convoluted, and also without such a successful outcome, but I definitely understand how dastardly ex-partners can motivate you to want to succeed without them.

Well, it didn't really happen like that, but yeah, the Iran-Contra Scandal contributed heavily to the onset of the crack cocaine epidemic. The fact that they couldn't use the US military in this operation is why cocaine became involved.

They needed to smuggle illegally purchased weapons to Central America, so they hired drug smugglers to smuggle guns in the other direction. What does a drug smuggler do after he's dropped off his weapons, and finds himself in Central America with an empty plane, a fistful of dirty money, and CIA cover?

That's right, he fills it full of cocaine, flies it back to America, and quintuplets his money. And they did it over and over and over, until there was so much coke on the streets of America, that it went from being the drug of the wealthy and celebrities, and became the drug of the ghetto.

And how do we know this? Because smuggler Eugene Hasenfus was captured, and he spilled the entire story.

The only question was: Was the CIA aware of the drug smuggling? Some think that they used it to raise even more money for their cause, but I've never seen any real evidence of that, other than speculation. OTOH, I find it hard to believe that they didn't know their pilots were smuggling cocaine back to America. If they didn't know, they should have, they're the CIA. Besides, it's not exactly a big leap to realize they would do this. They didn't hire commercial cargo pilots to do some side gigs, they hired drug smugglers specifically because they were smugglers. They aren't going to fly an empty plane home. Of course, they're going to smuggle Coke (or weed), back in their planes. Duh.

It's a wild tale. I once told the entire thing to a friend, who listened through the whole story, then said "Did that really happen?"

George HW Bush pardoned him on the advice of William Barr, giving Barr the start of a career helping presidents avoid responsibility for their illegal activities.

Giving this traitor a television platform instead of a prison cell, was one giant step in making Republicans feel untouchable, no matter how poorly they behaved. Even treason is excused, and rewarded.

North wasn't the "Fall Guy." That makes him sound like a scapegoat, which he wasn't, he was the guy managing the entire operation.

Also, it wasn't part of an operation to get the Iranian hostages released. They had been released back in 1980, as soon as Reagan had been inaugurated. The Iran-Contra Conspiracy happened later, but the wound from that humiliating episode was still stinging in the American psyche. The fact that North was selling weapons to our bitterest enemy at the time is only one of the things that made this such an egregious violation.

Iran-Contra was about providing weapons, training, and support to the conservative soldiers fighting the establishment of a Russian-supported regime in Central America.