Joshe

We need a thread to keep track of all the loyalist/sycophants being installed. I'll kick it off with this: A Fox News host just got appointed to oversee the DOD, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force. Official title: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: Served in the National Guard, so that's how they're justifying it. Additionally, reports indicate that the Trump transition team is considering a draft executive order to create a "warrior board" tasked with reviewing and recommending the removal of senior military officers deemed unfit for leadership. This move is seen as an attempt to purge "woke generals" and could lead to a restructuring of military leadership to align more closely with Trump's policies. They're going to corrupt every facet of government and they're moving very fast. It seems like the people will know their mistake much sooner than I thought.

Healthy foods like whole grains and beans go a long way and are cheap and can be used to make a ton of dishes that taste really good, but they'd rather spend $25 on pizza. The REAL reason Americans eat like shit is because they're lazy, always taking the path of least resistance, and because they care more about instant gratification than health. This being the case, they rationalize it all away with "healthy food is too expensive". You can make an extremely healthy meal that would last you all week for less than $20. I do a daily smoothie with all organic plant foods (spinach, banana, blueberries, date), fortified with ground flaxseed, chia seeds, turmeric, black pepper, pumpkin seeds, walnuts. I haven't added the cost up but I'm sure it's less than 2 or 3 dollars a day, which could easily be offset by eliminating expenditure on bad habits such as blowing money on fast food and convenient stores, eating out, buying lotto tickets, coffees, soda, and dozens of other bad habits Americans partake in that they don't mind dispensing with their hard-earned cash. They don't eat healthy because they don't give a fuck about it and they're too lazy to set it all up. My right wing sister is all of sudden worried about chemicals and ingredients in foods and she blames it all on corrupt food companies, big pharma, and the FDA. Interesting how she's just now concerned about it. I wonder if she might have been manipulated just like she was manipulated in 2020 when she all of sudden she was going to "save the children" from pedophiles. Now she's all of a sudden amped up about health... got it!

Nice to hear. I can see how peeps these days fall into it. Most can't break out because they don't have the self-awareness to see what it does to them and what they're doing with it. You're a lucky one!

How did you come to see through it?

Donald Trump Nominates WWE Co-Founder Linda McMahon as Education Secretary McMahon serves as board chair at the Trump-aligned think tank America First Policy Institute. In her 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, McMahon's team implemented a voter registration drive at the University of Connecticut, offering $5 bonuses for each Republican voter registered. Linda McMahon has been linked to controversies involving her husband, Vince McMahon, including allegations of sexual misconduct and a federal investigation into sex trafficking. While she has not been directly implicated, her association with these issues has drawn public scrutiny. "Linda McMahon’s lack of direct experience in education policy, administration, or teaching raises significant doubts about her qualifications to serve as Secretary of Education. While her leadership roles in WWE and the Small Business Administration demonstrate administrative and managerial capabilities, these do not translate to the expertise needed to oversee the complex challenges of the U.S. education system, such as curriculum development, equity issues, and compliance with federal laws like Title IX. Her nomination appears to prioritize loyalty and business acumen over the specialized knowledge traditionally expected for this role." It's odd that most of Trump's picks have been involved in sex trafficking investigations.

Haha, he's taking serious the idea that Don Jr. cares about eliminating corruption. Elon says to Cenk "What are your suggestions?", and he interprets that as "the right is the party that is open-minded and less tribal". You gotta be a dumbass to make that inference. Is Cenk that dumb? I think he's a grifter cosplaying like a tough guy speaking truth to power. I've always had this hunch. His outrage often appears like bad acting. I think he'd turn full MAGA in a minute with a big enough payoff.

I see it as a matter of triage. Immigration is a problem, but when your house is on fire, don't worry about replacing the broken window from fear that pests will take up residence in your burning house. One of the hardest things to argue is which problem demands the most attention, because on the whole, humans are not able to comprehend and assess reality in the abstract. ChatGPT to help me articulate: "Triage and Human Limitations in Problem-Solving When faced with multiple problems, prioritization becomes a matter of triage: determining which issues demand immediate attention versus those that can be deferred. Using the metaphor of a burning house, one wouldn’t focus on repairing a broken window when flames threaten to consume everything. This analogy underscores the need to address existential threats before tackling secondary concerns. However, deciding which problem is most urgent is inherently challenging. Humans often rely on immediate, tangible experiences and struggle to perceive abstract, long-term, or systemic challenges. Our cognitive limitations make it difficult to fully comprehend interconnected systems or unseen dynamics. This creates friction when different individuals or groups, influenced by their own experiences and values, try to agree on what deserves priority. Ultimately, prioritizing problems requires a balance of urgency, importance, and potential impact—a process made more difficult by the human tendency to focus on the visible and immediate over the abstract and unseen."

Large circle of concern + discernment + valuing of integrity + duty to warn + recognition of the populace putting the polar opposite of that which is good on a pedestal to idolize = A person who denounces Trump to the degree that he is praised. When over half the U.S population not only condones but praises such a con artist, which serves to degrade human life and the virtues most people on this forum would claim to value, people who care about those things will speak up. If you're not a native English speaker and not from America or have not spent considerable time here, it's highly unlikely that you can understand what Trump is. So if that's you, I'd be careful in thinking I know what Trump is. You guys keep thinking it's a political issue or bias. It's not that people are sounding the alarm about his ideology, because he has none. They are sounding the alarm that goodness itself is under attack and the purpose is an attempt to make them see that which they fail to see. Wise people aren't so much against Trump's con artistry and deception as they are against the American people's embrace of it. THAT is what all the noise is about. If people knew Trump was a total bullshit con artist who lies every time his mouth opens and doesn't care at all about anyone, much less America, then there would be no need for sounding the alarm. The whole point of sounding the alarm is to wake you the fuck up to your ignorance of what Trump is and the implications of his widespread embrace. We have a totally unwitting population who cannot see he throws even his closest allies under the bus and that he will lie to every single fucking group he talks to and tell them all he loves them and will deliver everything they want... and they believe it. Wise people know everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie and they can, clear as day, see the rot coming from the top down. If there is growing love and support for someone who tells lies everytime he speaks, and the people who hear them clap and grow even fonder of him.... People who can see where this leads, people with integrity, people who care about good things, will be bothered that the people fail to see. That's why integrous people are so serious on this matter. Don't mistake them for ideological, biased leftists, just because you yourself cannot see the nature of Trump, Trumpism, it's evolution, and what the implications of those are, because if you could see, Leo's stance would not boggle your mind. It would make perfect sense.

True. Of course the left would bring up cheating, especially after the last election. But it’s wise to not forget the story of the boy who cried wolf. There might be a natural tendency to reject claims based on the fact that you knew the lies were coming because you know the nature of things. I fit into this category and have taken no other claims of fraud seriously because they were mere speculation. However, this theory has the appearance of validity. We know Trump, Musk, and Russia have no qualms about rigging the election and we know they have the resources. Without knowing more about the voting system design and hearing from other experts, the safe play is to not accept this theory, but until then, I wouldn’t assume it’s false either. Also, this guy didn’t produce the video thumbnail. He just did a short interview on the guy’s show who did. He’s a lifelong Republican. .

Any intelligent thoughts on this? Duty to Warn Letter - to VP Harris - Re: Election 2024 Summary of Duty to Warn Letter to Vice President Kamala Harris: Author & Background: Stephen Spoonamore, former CEO/CTO of multiple tech firms specializing in hacking and counter-hacking. Experience with government agencies (DoD, DHS, State Dept.) and as an after-action reviewer for 9/11 data failures. Lifelong Republican prioritizing democracy over party loyalty. Purpose of the Letter: Urges Vice President Harris to reverse her concession and demand hand recounts in seven swing states. Asserts clear indications of deliberate hacking and vote manipulation in the 2024 Presidential Election. Key Claims of Election Hacking: Approximately 600,000 Trump-only “bullet ballots” (votes for Trump without down-ballot selections) were added in swing states, reversing outcomes. These anomalies are absent in non-swing states and push Trump’s totals beyond recount thresholds in key states (e.g., AZ, MI, NC, WI). Claims the manipulation required modest programming skills, limited access to tabulators or ePollBook data, and a small team (6-10 people). Analysis of Vote Irregularities: Unprecedented levels of Trump-only ballots in swing states: AZ: 123,000+ Trump bullet ballots (7.2% of total vote). NV: 43,000+ Trump bullet ballots (5.5% of total vote). NC: 350,000+ Trump bullet ballots (>11% of total vote). Contrasted with normal levels of bullet ballots (<1%) in neighboring non-swing states. Proposed Hacking Mechanisms: Hack Part 1: Creation of ghost voter data using pledged Trump supporter addresses (e.g., Elon Musk’s $1M lottery database). Hack Part 2: Matching manipulated ePollBook data with tabulator results, potentially through network connectivity or physical access. Recommendations: Full hand recounts in swing states to expose discrepancies between paper ballots and electronic results. Immediate investigation into data anomalies and potential co-conspirators in tabulation centers. Additional Concerns: Bomb threats at tabulation centers could have been used as a diversion to introduce fraudulent ballots. Suggests a connection between the election hack and broader cyber operations by foreign actors. Call to Action: VP Harris is uniquely positioned to demand recounts across all affected jurisdictions. The author and volunteers plan to continue investigating but stress the need for official action. Conclusion: Appeals to Harris’s responsibility to defend the integrity of the election and democracy. Offers personal assistance and outlines the importance of swift and thorough investigation.

Yeah, I mean, teams of world-class hackers exist. Ever see Mr. Robot? I think one reason it might not be a common idea is that most people are tech-illiterate. They have no idea how computers work, networks, systems, vulnerabilities, social engineering, etc. Most don’t have a clue about Russian hack teams working round-the-clock looking for exploits. All it takes is one phished fool to download a Word doc. Also, I wonder how modern and secure our election software is. You’d think it would be set up to only send data one way (out). According to this guys theory, data was sent and written to the machines, which seems easy to prevent.

Trump appoints TV celebrity Dr. Oz to head up CMS, an agency responsible for overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for more than one hundred million Americans, as well as implementing policies to ensure access to healthcare, managing healthcare spending, and improving program efficiency. Implications of Dr. Oz’s lack of experience in managing large federal healthcare programs: Policy and Operational Challenges: Without relevant experience, he may struggle to navigate the complexities of healthcare policy, potentially leading to inefficiencies or mismanagement in administering these vital programs. Increased Influence of Ideology or Personal Bias: A lack of expertise might make him more reliant on advisors, lobbyists, or political ideologies rather than evidence-based decision-making, potentially skewing policies toward special interests. Impact on Beneficiaries: Mismanagement or poorly informed policy decisions could disrupt access to healthcare for millions of Americans who depend on these programs, particularly vulnerable populations like seniors, low-income families, and children. Undermined Credibility of CMS: Appointing someone without relevant experience may erode trust in the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission, both among the public and healthcare professionals. Potential for Controversy: Dr. Oz's celebrity status and history of promoting controversial or unproven health remedies could draw scrutiny and criticism, overshadowing the critical work of CMS and potentially politicizing its operations. The appointment could create an environment where public health priorities take a backseat to political or personal agendas, with serious consequences for healthcare policy and administration.

I would love a good answer to this question. I can't pin it down. If I had to pick the top 3 traits to work on to develop it, they'd be: Integrity: commitment to align one's thoughts, beliefs, and actions with what is true Intellectual humility: ability to effortlessly revise existing judgements/conclusions in light of new information and then a desire to put your errors under the microscope and uproot the cause of error Intuition: develops with deep observation. I'm not sure but I think you mostly have to be born with a predisposition towards deep observation and contemplation. Not sure how feasible it is to develop if it doesn't come natural. These might also be necessary: Open-mindedness Comfortable with uncertainty, patient Curiosity fueled by need to understand what is not currently understood Self-awareness to see through your own lies Critical thinking / logical reasoning / observation skills Adaptability Confidence

They do appear but they usually only account for <1%. Unprecedented levels of Trump-only ballots in swing states: AZ: 123,000+ Trump bullet ballots (7.2% of total vote). NV: 43,000+ Trump bullet ballots (5.5% of total vote). NC: 350,000+ Trump bullet ballots (>11% of total vote). Contrasted with normal levels of bullet ballots (<1%) in neighboring non-swing states. This seems relevant to me but I don't have enough data. If we knew that bullet ballots almost never exceed 1%, that would most certainly be worth looking into. Yeah, I agree with you. Contests this big and the players having the resources they have, it seems more likely than not IMO. This is why integrity and character matters. I don't have any reason to believe the Dems would go so far as to actually hack into the machines, but it wouldn't blow my mind if they did. That said, Trump would obviously have no qualms rigging the election and he has access to Elon and Russia, who are more than capable of getting this set up. Putin is already saying he got Trump over the finish line and now it's time for Trump to pony up. 😂

Spot on. How much do you think he cares about attention/praise/getting his ego stroked? Do you think that's a large motivator for him?

Oh yeah, that's all AI. I rarely take the time to organize and assemble info like that. It's easy to tell the difference between me and an AI. 😂 My writing usually has many mistakes. I rarely use AI to write my original thoughts unless I'm struggling to articulate them or coherently weave them together. He does mention Starlink but I'm not sure if it gels with the existing theory. I haven't looked into them. I know many people are wishing for fraud/rigging, so I'm not interested in all that, but this dude supposedly has evidence to backup his theory. It relies on the idea that all 7 swing states were the only states with a flood of "bullet ballets", which are ballots where only Trump was selected and no other races/politicians were voted for. I'm not a data scientist so IDK how significant that is but according to this guy, it's an anomaly that doesn't typically occur in such high numbers. The interviewer acknowledges it could be explained by marketing, like Elon's million dollar giveaway, but the data guy isn't convinced for reasons he explains. IDK anything about him, so he could be a biased quack for all I know, but he claims to be an expert in data science and he gets paid to find exploits in secure systems. Apparently, he's built several successful businesses in the hardware and tech space. He claims to be a lifelong Republican.

Supporting Trump isn't so much about political knowledge/development as it is discernment. If you want to vote against the left because you think they're the greater evil, you don't have discernment. Discernment is a key trait among the top spiritual teachers. You can't even begin to discuss Trump's policies because he's a con artist. Only those lacking discernment would discuss the merits of and show support for a con artist. If you think a verified con artist, who has a long history of conning, and has been recorded lying 30,000+ times is better than a status-quo politician who was caught lying 20 times, you clearly lack discernment. There's no way around it. If you had discernment, 1 hour's worth of watching Trump speak would tell you everything you need to know. If you walk away thinking "I like this guy" or "others are treating this man badly", you lack discernment. This has much more to do with understanding discernment, self-deception, logical fallacy, emotional reasoning, etc, than it does with understanding politics.

It will be interesting to see how Trump's new cult members respond to their indoctrination and which cohorts emerge. One such cohort is the UFC crowd. When Trump first started showing up, Rogan would only shake his hand—now he goes in for full hugs.

Anyone not on the ground in America or who has not spent considerable time here does not really know Americans. The average American is not pissed at government. They’re caught up in the fantasies and drama of their own lives. For the ones who are pissed at the government, they’ve mostly been led to that position slowly, guided by memes that appeal to their egos, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, Christian Ideologues, etc. I watched it all happen in real time. Here’s the truth of it. Trump caused a lot of polarization, which created a lot of collective guilt, which created a big market to relieve that guilt. Anyone who could effectively relieve it was a hot commodity. This is where Fox News came in - specifically, Tucker Carlson. Carlson’s whole shtick was the dems are the establishment and the establishment is bad. He spent an hour every night on prime time TV, on the nation's most watched show on television, spinning his bullshit to capture those people and turn their guilt into self-righteous indignation towards the big bad establishment who enables the immigrants, blacks, gays, and trans. People ate it up, not because they were tuned into the evil ways of the establishment, but because they needed good reasons to justify their expanding embrace of Trump and their expanding disdain of blacks, gays, trans, etc. So, Tucker channeled their guilt into self-righteous indignation via anger and snake oil, which was directed towards the Democrats, AKA, the left, AKA, the establishment. Obviously, this isn't the whole story but it's an important chapter. I KNOW Americans. They’re the only people I’ve ever known, and I’ve watched them morph into something. The morphology can be traced back. You don’t know Americans just by seeing them on the internet or visiting once or twice.

Enlighten us

If the right didn’t have Christianity, then they’d be much more comparable to the left. If it was only about keeping with tradition, nuclear families, no gays, etc, and didn’t have Christianity, and if they believed basic stuff like evolution, THEN the comparison would be much closer and siding with the right would be nowhere near as insane as it currently is. The largest media outlets on the right are pushing Christianity. Fox knows theirs viewers are mostly all Christians or at least on the fence. The Daily Wire, PragerU, and Turning Point USA have Christianity baked into their mission statements. Right wing grifters have recently started joining the religion. JP and Russell Brand. Most recently, Tucker Carlson has hopped on the bandwagon. Saying he was attack by a demon in his bed, which prompted him to spend the next 1.5 years reading the good book. In a recent clip by Rogan, he dipped his toe in the Jesus pool. He jokingly said “people need Jesus”, then he got serious and said “for real”. Christianity is en vogue again. While it’s not 99% of the right, it’s the majority, and the big money outlets are pushing Christianity hard. Trump doesn’t fake like he’s a believer in Christ for the fun of it.

It’s not that I think they shouldn’t be allowed to operate freely to spread their ideology. We probably need that freedom for humanity to find its way. It’s just that their ideology is founded on utter ignorance. We’re talking about people who, if they had their way, and they are gaining it, would force Christian mythology onto kids in 4K public schools and make them say the Lord’s Prayer. If you care about humanity finding it’s way, you’d see this as regressive, taking us back quite a bit. No matter what Fox or Rogan says, the left isn’t pushing extreme views or trans onto school kids. The left mostly just wants more sanity, more acceptance, more justice. On the whole, that’s where they’re coming from. It’s insane to think climate change isn’t real and that it doesn’t matter because this 6000 year old rock will be of no consequence when the good lord rides a chariot to call home his chosen people. It’s insane to disbelieve in dinosaurs or to think they roamed the earth with men. Reasonable people reject this nonsense. Many apolitical, non-ideological people side with the left because they’re sane. People pay attention to the loud, frothing, attention seeking extremists on the left and think everyone else is like that. Most on the left just choose to not join the side of climate deniers, ancient mythologies, and bigotry. Decent, reasonable people would reject these detrimental falsehoods and not like them being spread.

Interesting. You want the world to awaken to truth but you don’t care if religious zealots infiltrate the hearts and minds of the populace. If the left didn’t exist and these people were doing this, you’d be able to see clearly and you’d denounce it, but because you hate the left, you condone the right… it seems.

ok, so, you’re half way there. You acknowledged the truth of what I said. Now, the only thing left to do is contemplate the implications of that truth. Don’t just gloss over the fact that the right is using multimillion dollar companies, and even backed by billionaires, to force their ideology upon as many people as possible, starting with kids in kindergarten. Repeat that and then acknowledge the left isn’t doing that. After you contemplate this, if your position is still “the left is losing because their ideas are not as good and they are not effective at forcing their views onto people and they need to go back to the drawing board”, contemplate some more, until you see the problem. You’re condoning what the right is doing and saying the left should stop whining and do it too. It sounds like spectator sport mentality.