aurum

I support a crackdown.

If Trump uses his newfound power then we will cross that bridge when we get there. Right now he has not been elected. So we need to do what we can, within reason, to prevent that. It’s not like you have to do it all. You are one tiny ant that is part of a gigantic colony. You have like .000000000000001 percent responsibility. Just find a particular role that seems useful. Maybe just talk to family and friends about who they are voting for. Maybe post on social media. Maybe make calls or canvas for Biden. I’ve done political canvasing before. It’s not glamorous but it still needs to get done. And then of course there is the obvious task of voting. Yes, voting matters. Even if that’s all you do, you at least contributed.

The intuition of divine intelligence is NOT the problem. That’s actually the part that is correct. The problem is the corruption of this intuition into thinking that God is helping your criminal conman get elected. This is a tale as old as time. Human’s rationalizing the greatest bullshit in the name of “God’s will”. This shouldn’t even need to be explained if you seriously follow Leo’s work. It’s very clearly laid out in his content how this particular self-deception works. Yes, if Bernie dodged a bullet and we all started saying that this proved Bernie was God’s favorite, that would also be corruption. So let’s not do that. The whole function of God is that God cannot have favorites.

It's not hard to discuss at all. I understand what you are saying. It's just a useless position to take on this situation. Who fucking cares if God intervened? God is everything and therefore God is intricately involved in all things at all time. So it matters not. You're trying to make this moment seem special when it's not. Normally I wouldn't care. But the problem is that the right-wing LOVES this narrative that Trump was saved by a divine intervention. And they don't see miracles like you do. They see miracles as rare occurrences that prove Trump should win. So best what you are saying is fairly pointless since most us here already know God is in all things. At worst, you are just reinforcing Trump bullshit.

Dude you need to grow some balls right now. Democracy is not a given. It’s something that needs to be fought for. How do you think we got democracy in the first place? You have some of the better political takes on this forum. Do not waste that. We actually need people who are informed and who care about these issues right now.

Then your definition of miracle is pointless and not worth discussing.

World changing events like the holocaust? I guess you would consider that a miracle too by your definition. You are supporting the right’s narrative that trump is some kind of god-appointed savior. Which is absurd.

I’m talking about excessive corporate power. Predatory capitalism is exactly what JD Vance will help bring about. Even if he theoretically sees himself as supporting the little guy, in practice he will end up supporting oligarchy. Those are very pedantic points that do not have to necessarily exist for fascism. And if you don’t like the word fascism because it doesn’t fit a narrow technical definition, then call it something else. Call it authoritarianism. It’s an attempt to end democracy.

It is a spiritual forum, not a spiritual-idiocy forum. If God moves the figures on the board, then God also made me shit today. Is that a miracle? Where are you drawing a line for what counts as a miracle?

So what? Fascists are always nationalists. More corporatism is exactly what we don’t need. No. People are screaming fascism because criminal con-man Trump has already conspired to overthrown a democratic election. This alone should disqualify him from ever running again. Not to mention all the news that has come out about Project 2025 and SCOTUS. Reagan was like a saint compared to Trump. At least Reagan respected democracy.

Maybe that's part of it. But also consider that the problem for Trump wasn't that Pence was a snooze fest. It was that Pence certified the election. JD Vance solves that problem. He will likely do whatever Trump wants.

Sounds a bit speculative to me at this point still. I responded to the debate debacle by saying people should let it go. The time frame didn’t seem realistic to me and there didn’t really seem to be anyone else who was a stronger candidate. Also, from an optics POV it looks kind of weak if Biden just drops out immediately after the debate. Trump would trash him for that. Ultimately though, if the Dems feel they would have a better shot with someone else than I support it. I do appreciate the 4 year run Biden had but the future matters the most. The most important thing is that the candidate is able to unite the left. No more complaining about how this person isn’t good enough. No more RFK or protest vote nonsense. No more false equivalencies with Trump. No more “can’t it be anyone else?”. Unite and fight. That’s what is needed right now.

That is a conspiracy. Please be mindful of the standards for this forum.

Latest album was really mediocre in comparison to his older work. He is too stuck on what worked in the past. Still doing Ken Kaniff and Paul Rosenberg skits. Still ending songs with "I'm just kidding X, you know I love you". It all feels stale to me. I was really hoping "Death of Slim Shady" meant he was going in a new direction. He could have explored new territory. Instead it was the opposite. Evolve or hang it up I think are his options at this point.

The devilry of Trump has been pointed out ad nauseam since 2016. And to act like it hasn't is deeply disingenuous. The problem is lack of listening, lack of understanding and lack of taking these critiques seriously.

And it may be much more than just an endorsement: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-07-15/musk-plans-to-commit-around-45-million-a-month-to-new-pro-trump-super-pac-wsj-reports

Actual investigators don't just jump to conclusions. They have to find sufficient, credible evidence before making a claim. Sit tight and wait. We will know more soon.

Campaign promises are irrelevant when you have someone who wants to overthrow democracy. That should be the end of discussion right there. It’s also a laughable hypothetical considering we know what the conservative agenda is. Legalize all psychedelics? Project 2025 doesn’t even want legal porn.

The best thing he said was that there are inherent tradeoffs between individualism and collectivism. That is a valid insight you can keep with you. But there’s so much nonsense and rationalizations in here it’s not even worth sifting through. It’s a good idea to discern between a genuine balanced perspective and “both-sideism”. Owen is doing a lot of the latter here.

That's incorrect. Many of the politicians themselves are strongly religious. It's not just an act they play for the masses, although some may do that.

You’re all good.

Not the time to be joking about something like that.

Politicians survive assassination attempts. It’s not like assassination is an easy thing to pull off, even if you are a determined shooter. Just look at examples throughout history. Also, see that many people who survived such attempts were not historically always the “good guys”.

Holy cringe. Owen’s political takes are so consistently bad.

@kyle barnett We've had many threads of this topic in the past, I'd recommend searching the forum for those. To summarize my position, I would love if we could create a product that effectively replaces animal meat. Obviously lab meat companies like Beyond Burger have attempted to do just that. But I'm not convinced that these lab meats are better from a health perspective yet. So at this point, I still eat animal foods. That may all change in the upcoming decades. We are still in the infancy of such a project.