jbluhm86

Pew Research Center I first heard about this study on the Ben Shapiro show today. It's a study by Pew Research on the breakdown of political leanings of Americans today, not just through the polarized lens of the strict "Red or Blue" duology. Figured I'd post it to have the Pol board members here to take a gander at it and give their opinions and see where they think they fall on the political spectrum. It gives me hope that not all is lost to the hyper-polarized ends of the political spectrum and that there is fertile middle ground and nuance in the American electorate that can be spurred to action to ease the insanity of the current times.

Like everything else in this country these days, this trial has been hyper-polarized. In my opinion, this is definitely a clear-cut case of self-defence, but to call Kyle Rittenhouse a "hero" for shooting those people is not accurate, either.

Trump will be 78 years old in 2024. I'd rather not trade one septuagenarian for another when it comes to the Presidency. DeSantis by himself could be a more viable option, because he's younger. He could be a proponent of ideas that Trump had right, minus the baggage that comes with Trump's character defects.

I guess that's the Founding Father's "weak opinion" too, since that's literally what the Constitution defines as treason, but 🤷‍♂️

Legally speaking, it wasn't treason: US Constitution, Article III, Section 3, Clause 1: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court". China cannot be legally considered an enemy in this context, because the United States has not declared war or any formal hostilities with China. Douchebag move by the General, though. Time for him to resign, because I certainly wouldn't trust him at this point.

Rogan speaks about his Covid experience; half-jokingly suggests suing CNN for saying he took "horse dewormer":

Yahoo News: Joe Rogan Tests Negative for COVID 2 Days After Revealing Positive Test

I'd say this probably has more to do with the arrest warrant than losing his shit on a news reporter. From the article: "According to Gulfport Police, Dagley is on probation for a previous charge in Cuyahoga County. One of the conditions of his probation is a travel restriction".

Reuters: Moderna vaccine production continues in EU amid contamination probe

Well, I'll be damned. Looks like JABAF might have some apologies coming his way: Nikkei Asia: 1.6m Moderna doses withdrawn in Japan over contamination - Company confirms reports of particulate matter in vials, but finds 'no safety issues'

I am not a Trump sycophant. Biden has all the classic signs of dementia and is in serious mental decline.

I'm a person who voted solidly Democrat from my first election when I was 18 in 2004, to 2016 when I voted Libertarian, and 2020 when I voted Trump, so I'm not saying this from some sort of biased political leaning. The 25th Amendment needs to be invoked and Biden needs to be removed from office. That press conference Biden just had this evening about the attacks in Afghanistan was nothing short of a disaster; it demonstrably showed that Biden clearly isn't mentally all there. This isn't a Democrat vs. Republican issue. The current President is clearly unable to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency any more. Ill take the risk of Acting President Kamala Harris at this point.

Reuters: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated Guess that puts the kibosh on the whole "Trump tried to lead an insurrection" angle.

Imagine if the French had that attitude towards the patriots during the American Revolution.

I'm not laying the Afghanistan disaster solely at Trump's or Biden's feet; this is the culmination of multiple failures from every presidential administration since Clinton, but I'm also not going to put it all on Biden while ignoring missteps from previous Presidents, including Trump. Afghanistan is Vietnam 2 - Electric Boogaloo. We threw trillions of dollars and thousands of American troops lives in the toilet for nothing.

Business Insider: The GOP quietly removed website praising Trump's peace deal with Taliban in 2020

Odd that you'd say I have TDS since I voted for the guy in 2020...

I'm no fan of Biden's handing of this unmitigated disaster, but to pretend that many of you on here who are criticizing Biden now weren't wholeheartedly supporting the US withdrawal from Afghanistan when Trump suggested it and was actively pursuing it is a tad hypocritical.

I think a good compromise would be for some form of socialised basic primary medical/dental/vision care. Many horrible diseases arise from not being caught early or from minor complications being allowed to progress to something more serious because people can't afford doctor's co-pays. Maybe a basic level of taxpayer-funded medical care with privately bought supplemental insurance for more aggressive conditions could strike a balance for everyone. More controversially, I wouldn't necessarily be against shifting Social Security taxes from retirement to help fund the socialized medicine/Medicare plan. Many people who are old enough to collect SS are the ones who use Medicare the most and have the highest proportion of cost when it comes to Medicare anyway. It's time to let people be responsible grown ups when it comes to their own retirement planning, and I think the money would be better used funding a basic Medicare for all anyway.

I assume those elderly people are vaccinated? If so, I still don't see what all the shunning is about. You and the others are vaccinated, presumably. No vaccine is 100% effective, but they still provide extensive protection against COViD, even the delta strain. Virus mutate all the time. It's the reason why there's a new flu vaccine every year, and even then, the effectiveness is only around 60% in the best of circumstances. COVID vaccines effectiveness are in the upper 90s against even the delta strain. If someone doesn't want to get the vaccine and ends up kicking the bucket, that's on them. It's pretty sad that we as Americans have caved into fear and shun friends and family over this.

And if/when he/she recovers like 99% of the people who have COVID, what then? What will the hoopla have been for?

A NDA is a NDA, bubba. Still have to keep the lights on at the end of the day.

It's actually a smart bit of politicing on Biden's part: pass an executive order that will take months to adjudicate in the courts. Meanwhile, your intended goal can run, and when it eventually gets overuled by the courts, you blame the courts and not your administration. Btw, this isn't an endorsement on my part of what he's doing, but game gotta respect game. It's I'm interesting strategy.

In essence, all gen 1 Covid-19 vaccines, regardless of the pharmaceutical company manufacturing it, operate on the same principle: they target the spike protein of the novel Corona virus. The only major differences between the vaccines are how they go about doing it; namely, whether they are mRNA or viral vector based. mRNA-based vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, etc) directly inject mRNAs encoding the covid 19 spike protein; these mRNAs are then translated into said spike proteins -minus the virulant portion of the covid genome - which the immune cells target in order to build immunity. Viral-vector vaccines (J&J, Astrazeneca, etc.) insert the spike protein genome into a relatively benign adenovirus. When these viruses are then attacked by the body's immune cells, the immune cells also adapt to recognise and attack the covid spike protein imbedded in the adenovirus genome. Prime example of many ways to skin a cat. (Somewhat) full disclosure: I currently work in the pharmaceutical industry, and my company is directly involved in the manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines. Due to my NDA, I'm limited on what I can and can't talk about.