The law caps annual transfers of so-called “excess defense articles” at a total value of $500 million a year. But the same law doesn’t dictate how much value the president assigns to a particular weapon. He in theory could price an item at zero dollars.
Oh, Christ. While I appreciate looking for unorthodox solutions, that's a court case tugging at its chain.
He’s a good person to watch to get a feeling for what the people who would make the decision of who to run in the Democratic Convention are thinking.
... is he? Nate Silver is a statistician without strong ties to the Democratic Party. Why would his opinions influence the decisionmakers in the DNC? Or reflect them?
I’m curious, do you play board games, and if you do, how do you feel about board games that contain “kingmaking” elements?
Haven't played any board games in a long time, but I used to enjoy those kinds. I used to play In The Shadow Of The Emperor.
Also, I apologize for the earlier insults and claims of bad faith. I strongly disagree with you, but you didn’t deserve those. I’m sorry.
Nah, it's fine. I don't trust anyone who doesn't get heated about politics. It's one of the things in the world where you absolutely SHOULD be pissed.
You’re right, they are. You’d sacrifice everything to prevent the end of democracy, without the recognition that to a significant enough portion of the population if genocide is on the table democracy already ended.
No, that's really not how democracy works. It's not "Democracy unless it does something evil, then it's not democracy."
Democracy is not some good, pure, angelic ideal. It's ugly. It's asking people what they want. And oftentimes, people want shitty fucking things.
According to polling, basically anyone but Biden beats Trump.
That's literally not true, and I can dig up plenty of polls which disprove that handily. More pertinently, no one who is running performs better than Biden, except "Unknown Generic Democrat Who Everyone Can Project Their Views Onto" which every minor candidate in the primary wants to convince everyone they are.
Fuck man, even the NYTimes with Nate Silver is starting to push the idea that Biden needs step down for the sake of the country.
Nate Silver also pushes 'Both Sides'. He's a statistician, not a polisci specialist.
So… Just to be clear with your previous arguments about being perfectly okay with sacrificing people, you’d actually vote for a Democratic candidate that was better than Trump in all ways, except he advocated for euthanizing, in your words, cripples?
Yes, absolutely. Fuck, man, that's not even that far off. The US health care system as is is going to end me before long, and Biden isn't going to do a damn thing about it. I still don't want anyone else to be fucked who can be saved from being fucked.
Also, in this example, Trump should be advocating the torture and euthanization of cripples. Because Trump's track record and rhetoric are both considerably worse on the issue of Palestine and Israel.
If asked to choose between "More evil" and "Less", pick less. If asked to choose between having your entire family killed and having your brother killed, pick your brother. No one is saved by picking the greater evil. It's not a moral choice. It's not helpful. It's just a tantrum.
All of your other points are just rehashing the same arguments made before.
How do you explain to a guy who lost 42 relatives in a Gaza in a single day that they should vote for either candidate? Hell how do you convince Muslims to vote for either?
By appealing to the same basic sense of humanity present in other voters, unless your argument is that Muslim Americans only care about what happens to Palestinians, and not what happens to them, their American coreligionists, undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, LGBTQ people, non-white folk, women, and all other non-Christians. Not to mention abroad Ukrainians, Iranians, Taiwanese...
The reason the former is supposedly better, when paired with minority rights, is that it doesn’t lead to things like genocide.
I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of democracy.
Secondly, I think that you are arguing in bad faith. I think you don’t actually believe Trump will end in fascism (though, I actually somewhat do).
I absolutely think a second Trump administration is more likely than not to end American democracy and usher in an age of fascism, possibly worldwide.
Tell me, have you started purchasing weapons? Stockpiling food, water, medical supplies, and ammo? If not, why not? Resistance is the proper response to fascism, no? Lest something like, oh I don’t know, a genocide happens?
My guy, if fascism comes to America, I'm a mentally ill near-sighted cripple living significantly below the poverty line with an irregular income with few practical skills. If fascism comes to America, my options are pretty limited to "hide messages in my cane for la resistance" and "off myself".
And separately, prepper delusions aren't going to be much help.
And this is all during a time where we’re not actually locked into Biden as a candidate.
I don't know how to address this level of delusion without going over a hundred years of American political history, which I suspect would be lost on you.
Huh. I'm not really sure. I guess it must be because they're fucking worse on every issue.
I'm not okay with genocide or 'secure border' insanity. But I also recognize that cutting the brakes and saying 'all aboard the fascism express' is not a fucking improvement.
You want to explain to me what your are not willing to sacrifice in the ‘name’ of democracy?
Please, tell me about your totally-not-fascist alternative to democracy. I'd love to hear it.
Fuck you genocide apologist. You’ve made it clear you’re willing to sacrifice anyone for your own safety.
As opposed to be willing to sacrifice everyone else out of... what, spite?
Which, come to think of it, is an extremely right wing fascist viewpoint.
Fascists don't go to war because they're scared, though they often are scared as well. Fascists go to war because human suffering is their highest goal.
You wanna explain to me what oppressing millions of minorities achieves, other than human suffering?
I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t be capable of looking them in the eye and saying the same thing.
What, looking them in the eye and saying "Voting for millions of minorities in America to be oppressed and killed isn't going to save anyone, but it sure as shit will kill and oppress millions of minorities"?
Sorry that I feel that "MORE people need to suffer" is not a reasonable reaction to suffering?
Yeah, no, if the opinion is that "This decades-long US policy of supporting a foreign country isn't ending now, therefore, everyone in the US and in Palestine can get fucked, including me and all of my family members", that's not an opinion worth taking seriously.
You can say it's an understandable emotional reaction, but it sure as shit isn't a reasonable one.
Oh, Christ. While I appreciate looking for unorthodox solutions, that's a court case tugging at its chain.