Hardkill

He and the Republican party need to shift a lot more to the center as soon as they can. Ever since Bush ended his presidency in 2009, the GOP as a whole has undoubtedly become increasingly an unpopular and undemocratic party, especially ever since Trump first rose to power in 2016. Not only has the Republican party won the popular vote in presidential election only once out of the past 8 presidential elections since 1988, but also no republican presidential candidate has ever actually won the majority of moderate voters throughout the whole country since 1984. DeSantis himself has now turned out to be both unpopular and perceived to be a fascist even within his own state.

Even if DeSantis would be a new face for the entire GOP, not only is coming off as fascist to some majority of Americans, he doesn't really even have charisma like Trump does, let alone doesn't have in anyway the broad appeal charisma that Reagan had. I've seen how DeSantis converses with people and he really comes off as a boring person who isn't able to even connect well with others socially. Trump is skilled with coming off as being relating to a lot of people at a deep level, is witty, and influenced a sizable portion of Americans to never waver in their loyalty and devotion to him regardless of what scandal or what political issue he's involved in. Reagan was also a "teflon" president who had an aura of warmth and invincibility that both strengthened his influence with Congress and helped make the criticisms of his shortcomings become not much of a problem for him politically.

Okay, yeah that's what I thought. In fact, Trump was basically playing nice with Putin primarily because he was really in Putin's pocket. At least has the balls to public announce that Putin is a thug and a killer. Furthermore, and most importantly, Biden was truly the main leader of NATO who came up with the idea of uniting NATO and Ukraine against Russia. None of the leader of any of the other countries in NATO such as Macron, Trudeau, Johnson (I believe at the time), Merkel, or anyone else in NATO other than Biden. He may not have the great appeal, youthful appearance, commanding presence, intellectual giftedness that Obama and Bill Clinton had, but he is definitely politically savvy in his own right. He undeniably has had the greatest amount of experience, knowledge, and intuitive understanding of how things work in Washington, politics, foreign affairs, than literally any other president in US history. Plus, he did graduate from a decent law school without much help unlike the kind of unfair advantage that W. Bush and Trump got from each of their fathers' connections to the respective schools they each graduated from. Not to mention, that Biden like Obama was a constitutional law professor at a top university.

Actually, interestingly enough, according to a number of polls, more voters say that they rather have Biden than even DeSantis because they think that DeSantis is also coming off as too much of an authoritarian like Trump. The GOP elites and the Republican Party are really scaring off too many swing voters.

I totally agree with you again. Though do you believe that it's possible that something like the War in Ukraine may not have ever happened if Biden was able to present himself better as a strong leader like the way Bill Clinton or Obama did during their presidencies because of their charisma, relatively young and strong appearance, and political savvy?

I am totally with you on everything you just said, but do you think that Biden will be able to convince the majority of Americans that he is capable of serving a 2nd term, despite the fact that most Americans still think he's too old for the job? Unfortunately, even a lot of elderly people in the US have said that he's looking like he's not going to make it for another term. Even my dad and my uncle who are both older than 80 years old, highly-educated, very smart, successful, liberal democrats really don't want Biden to run again because they too perceive Biden to come off as a doddering old man that's a bit out of it. Also, they understand from their own personal experiences how much your own memory, energy, sharpness, judgment, and some other mental abilities significantly decline when you're around their age. My dad further said that there's a reason why almost no one over 75 years old really works full-time in any job, especially one that's extremely mentally and physically taxing. My response to him was "Well what about some of the judges on the Supreme Court or many of those Congress who were or are over 80 years old?" My dad then was like "Well, first off, serving as a member of Congress is much easier than being the President of the United States of America. In fact, I honestly think that being a Senator or a House of Representative seems to be an easy cushy job, given how much everyone in Congress usually doesn't do much, except waste an incredible amount of time having all kind of bullshit debates on the Senate or House floor, holding things up in the various committees they have in Congress, preventing most bills from ever getting passed (especially in this day and age), and talking to the press about what may or may not happen in Congress. Also, members of Congress seem to get a lot more time off from work than the President of the United States does. As for the judges on the courts, yeah that definitely take a lot more work than being a member of Congress, but it's still not nearly as demanding as being the president of the most powerful country in the world who also has to frequently travel to all kind of places in the world and has to constantly manage not just everything that goes in a country that one's of the largest nations in the world, but also has to constantly handle so much of what is happening internationally throughout the whole world." My mom who is going to be 75 this year and is also a highly-educated, very smart, successful liberal democrat totally agrees with all of that.

Last year, I asked on this forum what Biden has accomplished so far as president: I thought that the responses from some of the people on that thread include Leo himself, had some very good responses to my question. Plus, at that time, Biden and Congress had already passed both the American Rescue Plan, which was a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which was the largest infrastructure bill/largest public works bill ever passed since 1956, when Eisenhower and the 84th Congress has passed the Interstate Highway Act. Furthermore, this was all before Biden and the Democrats actually ended up passing an amazing slew of additional significant bills that lead to much further change in domestic policy on a national level. In fact, top US historian, Allan Lichtman, has even said that Biden has already accomplished a greater record in domestic policy change legislatively than any president since the 1960s. What's even more impressive is that Biden achieved all of these historic pieces of legislation during his first 2 years as president, even when back then not only did he and his party only have razor thin majorities in both chambers of Congress, but also were legislating during the most politically polarized period ever in US history since the Civil War or the Gilded Ages. Plus, through executive orders alone, he has already made the most improvement on racial equity than any president since LBJ. Additionally, he became the very first president ever to both pardon Americans serving prison time on federal simple marijuana possession charges and to direct a review of marijuana scheduling. Furthermore, he has reversed many of the bad Trump admin policies with executive orders. Moreover, he has presided over arguably the fastest economic recovery in perhaps all of US history and over the strongest post-pandemic recovery of any major economy, including the creation of 13m jobs – more than any president has created in an entire four-year term – and the lowest unemployment for half a century. Plus, Biden was the western leader who was primarily responsible for reuniting the entire NATO coalition in order to best support Ukraine defend itself against Russia. Because of Biden's leadership, Russia has for well over a year been unable to defeat and takeover Ukraine. Also, Biden was the one who finally ended the War in Afghanistan. The media, except for MSNBC and some progressive outlets that give balanced views, have done a really bad job of covering all of Biden's really great successes.

Oh that's good. Well, hope that the liberal/progressive mediaecosystem can appeal to not just all liberals and progressives, but also to the solid of majority of moderates and possibly a small but significant amount of conservatives out there in the country.

I read Leo's most recent post on his blog, titled "I Love Morning Joe!", and I pretty much am with him on everything he said about the show. I think that MSNBC is definitely better and more to the left than other mainstream news channels such as CNN, when it comes to political analysis. Now as for the part of that post where he said "Mainstream news is not supposed to cater to your radical Leftist ideals. Mainstream news is designed to appeal to a very wide swath of Americans." I largely agree with that as neither extreme left-wing views nor extreme right-wing views represent the political views that most Americans have. Also, it is true that liberals still make up the smallest percentage of people in the US (about 25% of Americans identify as liberal), whereas conservatives and moderates are approx. tied for composing the largest percentages of people in the US (about 37.5% of Americans identify as moderate, and about another 37.5% of Americans identify as conservative). Furthermore, only about 7 to 8 of all people identify themselves as true progressives like Bernie, AOC, Warren, or Ro Khanna. Therefore, there's no way that a far-left media outlet could ever appeal to an audience as broad as what any mainstream news outlet has. However, I do believe in the idea of having a liberal/progressive media ecosystem that would be able to combat and hopefully drown out most of the what is messaged by the right-wing media ecosystem. Otherwise far-right wing outlets such as Fox News, OANN, Newsmax, Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire, etc. could ultimately destroy our democracy, totally stop anymore real progress from happening in America, and influence too many people on the right to actually cause widespread violence and chaos in our country. We can no longer count on Mainstream media news organization such as New York Times, CNN, PBS, ABC, or even MSNBC to serve as a bulwark against disinformation from cancerous outlets such as the right wing media. https://www.volts.wtf/p/volts-podcast-dan-pfeiffer-on-the/comments Brian Tyler also said that one of the main reasons why he created his own progressive YT channel and has continued to grow it is because he too wants to combat and the right-wing media ecosystem: Let me know what your thoughts are on this.

As Leo said, Obama is unable run for president again because according to the Twenty-second Amendment (Amendment XXII) of the US constitution, no American citizen is ever allowed to be elected president for more than 2 terms throughout his/her entire life. Each presidential term is 4 years long. Obama already served as POTUS for all 8 years by first being elected president in 2008 for one term and then re-elected in 2012 for a second term. In fact, no US president in the history of the country ever served more than two terms, except for FDR, who ran country as president for over 12 years. The reason is FDR was able to do so and did so was for a number of reasons including: 1. FDR was president from 1933 to 1945 and the Twenty-second Amendment wasn't ratified as an amendment to the Constitution until 1951. 2. He was incredibly charismatic and popular. 3. Most Americans acknowledged him as a legendary hero or savior because of how much his policies immensely not only helped saved the entire country from two of the worst national crises ever in US history, but also made the entire country even so much better than it ever was before for the people during his time as well as for the generations of people who would follow. 4. Even though most Americans before FDR's time were averse to the idea of anyone being president for more than two terms due to the fear of anyone holding onto such tremendous power for life like a monarch or dictator, most Americans during his presidency, felt the great need to have him be POTUS for an unusually long period of time. This was because because of the first three above mentioned reasons; therefore, they believed that he was the only person in America at the time who can save them from any crisis. In any case, Biden was Obama's VP throughout all of Obama's presidency, has been a center-left Democrat who has been shifting gradually more and more to the left, and has already gotten done arguably more positive liberal policies for the country than Obama did when he was president. So, Biden has essentially been kind of a third Obama term but in some ways even better than what Obama accomplished as president.

What makes you think that other past presidents since Lyndon B. Johnson like Obama or Clinton or Bush 1 or Bush 2 or Reagan or Carter or Nixon or Ford or Trump could have done better than Biden? After everything I just posted, including the video interview with that top historian on his assessment of Biden, how has everything that Biden has achieved as president not been like an Obama 2.0 and better?

Oh, another thing that Biden also absolutely deserves positive credit for, is his administration's impressive management of COVID in America. If it wasn't for the highly competent job that the Biden administration did with getting us through this horrific viral pandemic during his first two years as president, then so many more people in the US would been hospitalized and/or died from COVID unnecessarily. His administration probably also significantly contributed to what seems to now be the end of the global pandemic phase or the global emergency phase of COVID-19 for good.

Wow. It looked like he and his whole group of mercenaries were going to turn on Putin. But yeah it looks they're actually "turning around" now: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-06-24-23/index.html

This was a tragedy. It was the hubris and greed of OceanGate CEO that caused this.

OP, Did you check out this thread of mine?

I am with you man. We have too many dumb reactionaries in both the heartland and the Southern parts of America. It's like about half of the people in the country belong in some kind of 2nd world or 3rd world country. I really wonder if it would have been better for both the northern states and the southern states if after the civil war the US government had instead let the southern states secede from the Union after freeing every slave in the South.

No problem. Yeah, don't give the right-wing media any satisfaction by giving even an hour or a day of your time to listening to them or reading up on any of their articles or blogs or what have you. They constantly distort every possible fact and every kind of logic as part of their whole agenda, which is to only appeal to people by running on fear, hatred, and nationalism. Ever since the 90s, they have deliberately continually divided the entire country and have intentionally contributed to the increasing distrust in our country's institutions. They've always been framing everything that goes on in America as us vs. them including: liberals are mentally ill and conservatives are normal, Democrats are evil entitled socialists and Republicans are innocent hardworking capitalist, regulation of the economy is bad vs. free-market enterprise is good, public schools are terrible and private schools are great, science/medical/public health officials corrupt and christian religious leaders honest, urban areas are disgusting and full of crime whereas rural areas are clean and orderly, evangelicals/fundamentalists righteous and people of other christian denominations or other religions as sinful, white Americans as superior and every other person of every other race/ethnicity as inferior, poor people deserve no respect or sympathy while rich people should be praised, USA the best nation in the world and every other nation in the world are "shithole" countries, etc., etc., etc.

Oh yeah, of course! Healthcare in every country in the world, especially in every first world country, has gotten many times better in many dimensions since the 1910s thanks to the constant rapid advancements of medicine, healthcare technology, hospitals, manufacturing, media technology, communication, international trade, governments, businesses, commerce, exchange of ideas and beliefs from all different kinds of cultures around the world, etc.

Okay, here are statistics on how many people worldwide suffered and died from the Spanish flu during 1918-1920, when there were no vaccines for the disease, no part of the world was under any kind of lockdown, and there only about 1.7 billion people in the world: Estimated Cases - 500 million approx. percent of people in the world who were infected - 500 million/1.7 billion = 29% Deaths - 25–50 million (generally accepted), other estimates range from 17 to 100 million approx. percent of people in the world who died (low ball estimate) - 17 million/1.7 billion = 1% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu Now, here are statistics on how many people worldwide suffered and died from COVID-19 from 2020-2023, with vaccines vaccines for the disease, virtually every part of the world was under some kind of lockdown, and there have been about 7.8 billion since 2020: Estimated Cases - 767,984,989 percent of people in the world who were infected - 767,984,989/ 7.8 billion = 9.8% Deaths - 6,943,390 percent of people in the world who were infected - 767,984,989/ 7.8 billion = .09% https://covid19.who.int/ As you can see, both the lockdowns and the COVID-19 vaccines made a dramatic positive difference for the whole world. The number of people per capita around the world who were infected by COVID was only less than a third of the number of people per capita around the world who were infected by Spanish flu. The number of people who died per capita from COVID was only less than one-tenth of the number of people per capita around the world who were infected by Spanish flu, even with a low ball estimate of the number of people who died from the Spanish flu. Also, the total of number of people who died from COVID was approx. 40.6% of total of people who died from the Spanish Flu, again even with a low ball estimate of the number of people who died from the Spanish flu.

According to wikipedia "Despite Democrats holding only razor-thin majorities in both chambers during a period of intense political polarization, the 117th Congress is considered by political scientists to have been one of the most productive sessions of Congress in U.S. history. Some political scientists have described the legislative accomplishments of this congress as the most significant and sizable since those of the 89th Congress when President Lyndon B. Johnson passed many of his Great Society policies. Major policies enacted by the 117th Congress include the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Postal Service Reform Act, Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, CHIPS and Science Act, Honoring Our PACT Act, and the Respect for Marriage Act." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/117th_United_States_Congress I knew that Biden and the Democrats in Congress ultimately got a lot of done, especially considering how extremely divided the US has gotten politically in recent years and the fact that they really only had razor-thin majorities in both chambers of Congress during Biden's first two years of his presidency. However, I wasn't sure before if this Congress would be considered by experts to be such a historic success. Obviously, the Dems weren't able to achieve nearly as many successes as they did during the New Deal and Great Society eras, but apparently all of successes they achieved during Biden's first two years as president basically measure up to all of the historic successes they made during Obama's first two years as president. This should definitely be considered an historic win for Biden and the Democrats.

What absolute evil monsters the Kim Jong Un, his family, and his government have all been to its people. That country really must be very much like hell. Kim Jong Un and his family have been totally unfit to serve as the leaders of their people. They, along with all of the people in charge of their government undeniably need to be overthrown by force.

Interestingly, when he first arrived here in America in 1968, which was when he won his very first Mr. Universe pro bodybuilding championship title, he said that the reason he moved here to the US was because he thought that his home country, Austria, which has had more of a social democratic style of government at that time, was too socialist and did not allow enough individual liberties or have enough opportunities for people. During that year, he decided to be a Republican because he believe that the GOP was the party that really supported the traditional American values that have made the USA exactly the kind of great country he wanted to live in including: having one of, if not the most powerful military in the world, limited economic intervention and control by the government, fiscal responsibility, low taxes, free market economy, freedom of speech, and so on. He thought that the Democratic Party back then seemed too much like the kind of "socialists" that run the whole Austrian government. This is what he said in 1991: "I finally arrived here in 1968. What a special day it was. I remember I arrived here with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of determination, full of desire. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon–Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, 'What party is he?' My friend said, 'He's a Republican.' I said, 'Then I am a Republican.' And I have been a Republican ever since." He then tremendously admired Ronald Reagan and thought that he was a great president and a hero. He also respected HW Bush and thought that he was a strong leader when he was president. He did approve of Bush 2's war on terror policy, but disapproved of his environmental policy stance. I am not sure though what he thought about Bush's presidency overall. However, Schwarzenegger has always been a moderate to liberal republican and I believe that ever since around 2009, he has evolved into more of a liberal. Plus, he had rightly condemned the Trump presidency, denounced the MAGA republicans for their dangerous right-wing extremism, and is appalled by how bad the Republican Party has gotten as a whole.

I thought women want a men who has a dick with a big girth. In fact, I've heard from a number of women that girth matters more than the length of the penis. They say that it's because a large girth fills a broader area of the inside of the vagina, whereas a dick that's really long can end up just poking the vagina so deep to point of hitting her cervix, which can be quite painful for her.

Of course women find men who are inspirational, emotionally compelling, and fun to be with. But I thought that most women also desire a mature man in many respects. A mature man is someone who comes off as experienced, strong, courageous, commanding, shrewd, wise, successful, has his shit together, disciplined, persevering, having high willpower, has a solid sense of purpose, pragmatic, reasonable, etc. There is that old saying about how something will "SEPARATE THE MEN FROM THE BOYS." The boys being the overgrown men who are weak, cowardly, foolish, losers, don't garner any real respect from others, don't know their asses from a hole in the ground, get too emotional, etc. versus the real men who grew hair on their chests, have balls, have a real the spine, self-assured, are looked up to as leaders and protectors of people including women, are true winners in life, know what they are doing, etc. Therefore, the boys are the ones who won't be able to hack it, whereas the real men, who are the alpha males, are the only ones who can do what most guys can't do.