Discussion about hot topics trending today

[Gatefan1976]

Most people don't realize it but our lives as a whole are mostly ruled by by dumb luck.

No, it's not.

GF has no concept of what an ultra-liberal state govt. can do to the economy of an area.

Yeah, **** you are stupid.

[Annoyed]

Most people don't realize it but our lives as a whole are mostly ruled by by dumb luck.

No, it's not.

No? Think about it, rather than resorting to personal insults.
The body you are born into, including whatever defects, handicaps, genetic diseases, your intelligence level, your physical abilities, attractiveness, and a thousand other things are all pure luck. You get the body you were born into.

That right there is a huge, dominating influence on how your life will go. You or I could have been born a quadraplegic, or with a brain the size of a walnut.. All dumb luck.

Then, there is the environment you are born into. You or I could have born into some backwater village in a drought/famine/disease stricken area with a life expectancy measured in weeks or months. Even assuming survival, there may be no way to escape those circumstances. How many people live out their lives in such places? Again, dumb luck.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Yes, personal effort plays a role too, but you can put forth all the effort in the world to improve your lot in life, and it can be completely undone in a split second by a stroke of bad luck or bad timing.

How many people have been very successful and had their lives ruined in a split second? For example, I don't know what flavor of the The Weather Channel you get down under, if you even get it, but in the US, their main on-camera meteorologist for at least 20 years was a young woman named Jeanetta Jones. Her face and personage was synonymous with that network.

Till her head went through a windshield about 10 years back, with typical results. The woman's career and life destroyed by a split-second of bad luck, happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And it could have been worse; at least she had the financial resources gained over 20 years broadcasting career as the "star" of the channel.

I know, people don't like to think about this, because they like the comfort that thinking they are in control of their lives gives them. But the truth is, dumb luck preordains a great deal of how our lives play out.

[mad_gater]

In other words, you could not control your mouth, I have the same argument with my 9 year old. If you cannot control a basic function, why should anyone keep you as a worker?

Then be better, or do you want a participation award?
Luck of the draw my arse, you do what must to land that job. Make yourself stand out, or move along.

DO you wanna know what is?
It's actual discrimination against men because of 2 reasons
1: Men see you as a possible gay for taking such a "soft" job, so you could fiddle with them when they are exposed.
2: Women see you as a threat because you want to fiddle with them when they are exposed.
Congratulations, you found a field where you will be discriminated against, suck it up, cause I see zero sympathy from you when the shoe is on the other foot.

Jesus F'N H Christ.
If you deal with the public, you are NOT A DAMN PRIVATE BUSINESS, you are a PUBLIC business. YES, you are owned privately, but -ownership- and the sphere you deal in are not the bloody same. A company DESCRIMINATING against you because you are a male is just as bad as a company discriminating against a woman, that's the law, and it has been for some 60 bloody years, no matter who wants to ignore it.

You have LEGAL cause to do them over if their stated reason for not hiring you is because you are a man. Has it ever occured to you perpetual "victims" of FemNazism that you have the exact same tools at your disposal?
Does it ever occur to you that the -only- reason you have those rights is because of the civil rights act, and previous to that the suffragette movement?
If they did not act, you would have no chance at ALL.

This is an EXCUSE.
Would you like a participation award?
Isn't that a libbuural thing?

So, you are sucking on their resources, and damaging their ability to move ahead, and have been for how long?
Look man, My point is not to harass you, I think you have every right to get the support you need, but I -do- find it somewhat...... foul that you are willing to throw other under the bus while sucking on the family teat.
Choose a position, people like you should have no rights, or they should.

Really?
Prove me wrong rather than make a unsupported statement.
I have few issues with -conservatism- insofar as keeping things slow and measured, but what the US now calls "republican"? I would not piss on it if it was on fire. Republicans gave freedom to the slaves and women, yet now I would not trust them to give freedom to a gnat.

You have no clue how the economy works, if you did, you would not support a man who makes everything in China, and gets his staff from Mexico. The only Americans trump wants to support is his family.

aaand you still don't get it.....I have absolutely no right whatsoever to tell a PRIVATE business how to run their business....if they don't wanna hire me...fine...I'll keep plugging away (incidentally this is the exact same argument I make in cases like the Oregon baker's...that if a PRIVATE business won't serve me...fine...I'll take my business elsewhere)....and just because it's a law doesn't mean it's right to use the power of the state to run roughshod over a privat ebusiness owner's right to run his own business as he sees fit...same as abortion...just because it's "legal" doesn't mean it's right....I prefer to try businesses emplying discriminatory tactics in the court of the free market...whereas you prefer using the heavy-handed power of the great and glorious state to micromanage every facet of life in society

I support "civil rights movements" insofar as they are meant to ensure that EVERYONE is protected by the COnstitution of the United States and the liberties enshrined therein. However, getting served or getting hired at a PRIVATELY OWNED business are not constitutional liberties. The ONLY Constitutional rights one has in this regard are to take their business and/or their job skills and work ethic elsewhere

you say "be better" as if it's some kind of cure-all....news flash buddy....no matter how good you think you are there is always someone better

and you write off my statement about the absolute stranglehold the college crowd has on the job market.....got news for ya here too.....take a look at just about any job offer here in the US and you'll see things like "college education required" or "college education preferred"

and now who's the one making unfounded statements? I never said people shouldn't be given a hand UP...however, there are an alarmingly high number of cases where our welfare resources, both private donation-funded non-profit and government-funded public, are being given away as handOUTS, not handUPS and I would strongly suggest you learn the difference between a hand UP and a handOUT

unfounded statement number 2: your assertion that I blindly support Trump 100% is patently false.....I agree with him in some things and I disagree with him in others...and I find myself wishing, on account of his alarmingly frequent cases of foot-in-mouth disease that the GOP had chosen anyone else BUT Trump in the primaries, but Trump is what we got and I'll wish him all the best (which is NOT the same thing as blindly supporting him 100%)

[Falcon Horus]

Which is why i hope if they DO caliexit, that the break is FULL.. No staying on federal dollars, no staying US citizens, no keeping Federal stuff that's there...

You really need to read up on how a state can (not) break away from the United States of America.

...with a brain the size of a walnut...

Hate to break it to you, but a foetus with a brain the size of a walnut would not have been born. You'd have probably died before the due date which would have meant surgical removal (also known as abortion).

Then, there is the environment you are born into. You or I could have born into some backwater village in a drought/famine/disease stricken area with a life expectancy measured in weeks or months. Even assuming survival, there may be no way to escape those circumstances. How many people live out their lives in such places? Again, dumb luck.

If you just called the children dying in Africa dumb luck, then you're the one who needs to justify his "luck" being born wherever you were born.

[Annoyed]

Hate to break it to you, but a foetus with a brain the size of a walnut would not have been born. You'd have probably died before the due date which would have meant surgical removal (also known as abortion).

If you just called the children dying in Africa dumb luck, then you're the one who needs to justify his "luck" being born wherever you were born.

I wasn't referring to any specifics in either case. Did you really not get the point I was trying to make? Or is this you in denial about what is a basic truth?

[mad_gater]

You really need to read up on how a state can (not) break away from the United States of America.



Hate to break it to you, but a foetus with a brain the size of a walnut would not have been born. You'd have probably died before the due date which would have meant surgical removal (also known as abortion).



If you just called the children dying in Africa dumb luck, then you're the one who needs to justify his "luck" being born wherever you were born.

then please explain to me....oh wise one, just how all these pre-mature babies are walkin' around, most of them leading fairly well adjusted lives? if you assertion that they would've died because their brains were underdeveloped is to hold any water?

[Annoyed]

I don't think it's a secret that I absolutely disagree with the modern effort to scrub anything related to the confederacy from our society. People should have the right of free expression. For me, the Confederate flag represents defiance of misused authority, not racism. And I have have the right to display one if I choose.

And frankly, even nut jobs such as the Klan & other white supremacists have the right to speak their gibberish, and I shall give it all due consideration. None, that is.

But these guys are way out of line, and frankly an embarrassment to others of us on the right.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/12...-injuries.html

Really? Ramming a crowd of people who disagree with you with your car isn't cool. I hope they throw the book at whomever did that.
And I don't even think I want to know how the hell they brought down a helicopter, killing it's occupants.

[Gatefan1976]

No? Think about it, rather than resorting to personal insults.
The body you are born into, including whatever defects, handicaps, genetic diseases, your intelligence level, your physical abilities, attractiveness, and a thousand other things are all pure luck. You get the body you were born into.

That right there is a huge, dominating influence on how your life will go. You or I could have been born a quadraplegic, or with a brain the size of a walnut.. All dumb luck.

Then, there is the environment you are born into. You or I could have born into some backwater village in a drought/famine/disease stricken area with a life expectancy measured in weeks or months. Even assuming survival, there may be no way to escape those circumstances. How many people live out their lives in such places? Again, dumb luck.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Yes, personal effort plays a role too, but you can put forth all the effort in the world to improve your lot in life, and it can be completely undone in a split second by a stroke of bad luck or bad timing.

How many people have been very successful and had their lives ruined in a split second? For example, I don't know what flavor of the The Weather Channel you get down under, if you even get it, but in the US, their main on-camera meteorologist for at least 20 years was a young woman named Jeanetta Jones. Her face and personage was synonymous with that network.

Till her head went through a windshield about 10 years back, with typical results. The woman's career and life destroyed by a split-second of bad luck, happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And it could have been worse; at least she had the financial resources gained over 20 years broadcasting career as the "star" of the channel.

I know, people don't like to think about this, because they like the comfort that thinking they are in control of their lives gives them. But the truth is, dumb luck preordains a great deal of how our lives play out.

You do not understand odds or statistics, which is why everything seems like dumb luck. You wilfully choose not to learn about these things, so what else should I say?
You will learn better?
Might as well try to herd cats.
On the other side of your argument, if you -were- born black, or female, or gay, or trans, (cause it's just dumb luck, right?) should I have the right to discriminate against you because of that dumb luck?

[garhkal]

What do you think they should get?

A lot more than a mere 100 days. Especially when you can see some other people who got done for voter fraud, in one gal's case just 5 counts. YET she got 8 years!

Yeah, I saw that. The max. sentence was only 1 year in jail and $100K fine. Even that is a slap on the wrist as far as I'm concerned. But, of course, since he was working for the Democrats, (I read the Judge was a Dem.) he as able to cut a deal.

And iirc since it was just a misdemeanor charge now, if you check his name in a few years, you won't see any convictions..

I don't think it's a secret that I absolutely disagree with the modern effort to scrub anything related to the confederacy from our society. People should have the right of free expression. For me, the Confederate flag represents defiance of misused authority, not racism. And I have have the right to display one if I choose.

And frankly, even nut jobs such as the Klan & other white supremacists have the right to speak their gibberish, and I shall give it all due consideration. None, that is.

But these guys are way out of line, and frankly an embarrassment to others of us on the right.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/12...-injuries.html

Really? Ramming a crowd of people who disagree with you with your car isn't cool. I hope they throw the book at whomever did that.
And I don't even think I want to know how the hell they brought down a helicopter, killing it's occupants.

YEa i got home from gaming this evening and mom told me about that whole incident..

[Gatefan1976]

aaand you still don't get it.....I have absolutely no right whatsoever to tell a PRIVATE business how to run their business....

Aaaanndd you still don't understand.
You DO have every right to tell a private business what to do as long as they operate as a -PUBLIC SERVICE-. I can't tell blacks or whites to keep out of my mall, or my shop, because I am a PUBLIC ACCESS business. A church, as a non profit CAN do this, but a business cannot.
What will it take to get this through your head?
Public companies are covered by secular LAW, and secular law says a business open to the public CANNOT discriminate based on race, religion or gender. They are not PRIVATE CLUBS.

if they don't wanna hire me...fine...I'll keep plugging away (incidentally this is the exact same argument I make in cases like the Oregon baker's...that if a PRIVATE business won't serve me...fine...I'll take my business elsewhere)

It's not the same argument at all.

....and just because it's a law doesn't mean it's right to use the power of the state to run roughshod over a private business owner's right to run his own business as he sees fit.

Yes, yes it does, it's the LAW, or are they special and don't think the law should apply to them? Isn't that why people get upset about "sanctuary cities"?

..same as abortion...just because it's "legal" doesn't mean it's right....

Nor is shooting a thief, but you seem fine with that as it impacts -you-.

I prefer to try businesses emplying discriminatory tactics in the court of the free market...whereas you prefer using the heavy-handed power of the great and glorious state to micromanage every facet of life in society

Micromanaging??
Are you kidding me??
You want to forbid the state from denying rights to people because they are "different", but have no issue with them getting into the most intimate part of a woman, or your private life.

I support "civil rights movements" insofar as they are meant to ensure that EVERYONE is protected by the COnstitution of the United States and the liberties enshrined therein. However, getting served or getting hired at a PRIVATELY OWNED business are not constitutional liberties. The ONLY Constitutional rights one has in this regard are to take their business and/or their job skills and work ethic elsewhere

What would you do if the "liberal elites" of New York unilaterally decided that Catholics were a group worthy of service denial?

you say "be better" as if it's some kind of cure-all....news flash buddy....no matter how good you think you are there is always someone better

News flash buddy, you only have to beat the other people in the race.

and you write off my statement about the absolute stranglehold the college crowd has on the job market.....got news for ya here too.....take a look at just about any job offer here in the US and you'll see things like "college education required" or "college education preferred"

Get a college education then.
What's that?
You can't?
Tough biscuits for you then, if only you could.

and now who's the one making unfounded statements? I never said people shouldn't be given a hand UP...however, there are an alarmingly high number of cases where our welfare resources, both private donation-funded non-profit and government-funded public, are being given away as handOUTS, not handUPS and I would strongly suggest you learn the difference between a hand UP and a handOUT

I strongly suggest you learn how to quote, followed by a course in economics (oh, that's a college thing, nevermind, you can't do college)

unfounded statement number 2: your assertion that I blindly support Trump 100% is patently false.....

Well, good thing I never made that assertion, and have pointed to you previously as a republican who doesn't.

I agree with him in some things and I disagree with him in others...and I find myself wishing, on account of his alarmingly frequent cases of foot-in-mouth disease that the GOP had chosen anyone else BUT Trump in the primaries, but Trump is what we got and I'll wish him all the best (which is NOT the same thing as blindly supporting him 100%)

Did you wish the same for Clinton or Obama?

[Gatefan1976]

I don't think it's a secret that I absolutely disagree with the modern effort to scrub anything related to the confederacy from our society. People should have the right of free expression. For me, the Confederate flag represents defiance of misused authority, not racism. And I have have the right to display one if I choose.

And frankly, even nut jobs such as the Klan & other white supremacists have the right to speak their gibberish, and I shall give it all due consideration. None, that is.

But these guys are way out of line, and frankly an embarrassment to others of us on the right.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/12...-injuries.html

Really? Ramming a crowd of people who disagree with you with your car isn't cool. I hope they throw the book at whomever did that.
And I don't even think I want to know how the hell they brought down a helicopter, killing it's occupants.

Take a good, hard look in the mirror, because "Mr just foot in mouth" opened the door to this kind of domestic terrorism.
I give you props for seeing it as bad, cause there are some lefties that would not see the shooter in Washington as a terrorist either, but that's what they both are, terrorists.

[Annoyed]

You do not understand odds or statistics, which is why everything seems like dumb luck. You wilfully choose not to learn about these things, so what else should I say?

Nice try at denial, but if it isn't dumb luck, how does odds come into the picture? Or does study of "odds and statistics" give you a way to determine who is born into what circumstances, with what genetics and so forth?
If so, I think you had better go into hiding, because I think there are going to be a whole lot of people who got the short end of that stick pissed off at you.

On the other side of your argument, if you -were- born black, or female, or gay, or trans, (cause it's just dumb luck, right?) should I have the right to discriminate against you because of that dumb luck?

Absolutely not. But you don't have the right to discriminate for me, either, nor do you have the right to put my rights above those of another.

[mad_gater]

I don't think it's a secret that I absolutely disagree with the modern effort to scrub anything related to the confederacy from our society. People should have the right of free expression. For me, the Confederate flag represents defiance of misused authority, not racism. And I have have the right to display one if I choose.

And frankly, even nut jobs such as the Klan & other white supremacists have the right to speak their gibberish, and I shall give it all due consideration. None, that is.

But these guys are way out of line, and frankly an embarrassment to others of us on the right.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/12...-injuries.html

Really? Ramming a crowd of people who disagree with you with your car isn't cool. I hope they throw the book at whomever did that.
And I don't even think I want to know how the hell they brought down a helicopter, killing it's occupants.

Whitewashing history isn't a good thing. Banning statues and flags of historical events that depict us at our worst as left-wingers are wont to do in the South because the sight offends people means that you are eliminating reference points to our history. And people need to learn from history, both good and bad, if they are to have a shot at not repeating it.

[mad_gater]

Aaaanndd you still don't understand.
You DO have every right to tell a private business what to do as long as they operate as a -PUBLIC SERVICE-. I can't tell blacks or whites to keep out of my mall, or my shop, because I am a PUBLIC ACCESS business. A church, as a non profit CAN do this, but a business cannot.
What will it take to get this through your head?
Public companies are covered by secular LAW, and secular law says a business open to the public CANNOT discriminate based on race, religion or gender. They are not PRIVATE CLUBS.

It's not the same argument at all.

Yes, yes it does, it's the LAW, or are they special and don't think the law should apply to them? Isn't that why people get upset about "sanctuary cities"?

Nor is shooting a thief, but you seem fine with that as it impacts -you-.

Micromanaging??
Are you kidding me??
You want to forbid the state from denying rights to people because they are "different", but have no issue with them getting into the most intimate part of a woman, or your private life.

What would you do if the "liberal elites" of New York unilaterally decided that Catholics were a group worthy of service denial?

News flash buddy, you only have to beat the other people in the race.

Get a college education then.
What's that?
You can't?
Tough biscuits for you then, if only you could.

I strongly suggest you learn how to quote, followed by a course in economics (oh, that's a college thing, nevermind, you can't do college)

Well, good thing I never made that assertion, and have pointed to you previously as a republican who doesn't.

Did you wish the same for Clinton or Obama?

aaaaand you STILL don't understand that the government telling a PRIVATE business owner how to run his business is NOT a good thing....thus we seem to be at a bit of an impasse...because you seem to have no problem with a society where the government micromanages every facet of what should be PRIVATE free market commerce

form where I'm sitting you are totally and completely blind to just what kind of society you have when a person can come up to you as a PRIVATE business owner and say "serve me or face the high-handed power of the Great and Glorious state

you have NO inalienable right whatsoever to the goods and services of a PRIVATELY RUN business...the only court such businesses can be tried in, at least if your society is a free society, is the court of the free market, meaning that should a private business owner be employing business practices that We the Consumer don't like....we have every right to organize a boycott....but that's IT

Economics is a course required in high school...which I did quite well in...you're only mad because my education in basic economics wasn't based on the fallacies of Alfred Maynard Keynes

and when employers for simple clerical office work are requiring to have at least a bachelor's, if not a masters degree, you have a problem

a full-blown college education is just fine for big jobs like engineers, computer programmers, doctor's dentists, etc.

for everything else, a high school education should be sufficient, maybe post-HS trade school education for things like massage therapy, plumbing, HVAC, etc.

.....but it's not.....because the people who run regular colleges and universities are using the money they make from their exorbitant tuition fees to exercise undue influence over the job market and edge out people with a basic HS and/or post-HS trade school educationby enticing employers to require some modicum of regular college education

oh....and I know your left-wing education has brainwashed you in this regard.....but for the umpteenth time....using a gun in defense of yourself and your property is an entirely PROPER use of force, killing an innocent unborn BABY is NOT...nice try at comparing apples to oranges though

what would I do if a bunch of liberal elites decided Catholics weren't worthy of being served....depends on whether they are running a private business or not, as since I've said before and will keep saying...I have no inalienable right whatsoever to a PRIVATE business owner's goods and services....thus I would simply take my business to a different PRIVATE establishment....however if liberal elites in the GOVERNMENT were trying to deny Catholics real inalienable rights as spelled out in the Constitution, such as the right to vote, the right to due process of law, the right to a jury trial, the right to peacefully assemble (which actually is being done as Christians in general have been banned from certain venues by other state governments)....I can just about guarantee that there would be a Second American Revolutionary War by morning

This is the slippery slope you're heading down, allowing the government into every facet of what should be private free market commerce....it's NOT a good thing but you're too blind to realize that fact

and since you also seem to be developing short term memory loss as to the unfounded statements you made (accusing me of simply wanting the poor to rot and being 100% supportive of Trump:

Look man, My point is not to harass you, I think you have every right to get the support you need, but I -do- find it somewhat...... foul that you are willing to throw other under the bus while sucking on the family teat.
Choose a position, people like you should have no rights, or they should.

That's you making the unfounded statement accusing me of thinking I don't want the poor to be given a hand up

You have no clue how the economy works, if you did, you would not support a man who makes everything in China, and gets his staff from Mexico. The only Americans trump wants to support is his family.

That's you implying that I support Trump 100%...which I do not

as for your 3rd unfounded statement implying that I did not wish the same for Clinton or Obama....flat out wrong....no matter how much their asinine opinions and policies annoyed me I never wished them ill

from where I'm sitting you're laboring entirely under the notion that something being legal makes it right, which is precisely the kind of belief I expect from a person who doesn't mind being ruled by a totalitarian state....and you still also seem to be stubbornly laboring under the false notion that using lethal force against a home invader is just as bad as committing a cold-blooded pre-meditated murder

but please.....do continue to make unfounded accusations about me....each one will be met with equal vitriol

[Annoyed]

a full-blown college education is just fine for big jobs like engineers, computer programmers, doctor's dentists, etc.

for everything else, a high school education should be sufficient, maybe post-HS trade school education for things like massage therapy, plumbing, HVAC, etc.

.....but it's not.....because the people who run regular colleges and universities are using the money they make from their exorbitant tuition fees to exercise undue influence over the job market and edge out people with a basic HS and/or post-HS trade school educationby enticing employers to require some modicum of regular college education

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.
The college and university business (and make no mistake, they are a business) make a crapload of money, much of which comes from the govt. teat by way of student loans, grants and so forth. And of course, they want to keep that gravy train going. Towards that end, they have pretty much convinced business that their product is indespensible to the point where buying that sheepskin is considered the admission ticket to a middle class lifestyle regardless of if it's actually needed or not.