So to be clear, it’s ok to slam Trump in a non-politics thread as long as I didn’t start it?

_________________
“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Committee to Re-Elect Trump would be my guess.

_________________

Let’s try it Zippy. I bet it’s ok.

Fuck Trump!

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Trump calls him the most overrated General ever. In the past 15 years he's literally the only person who liberals and conservatives both love. You have to be one helluva leader to pull that off.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

He has the best quotes ever. Modern day Patton. That combined with the record to back it up is tough to argue with.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

How do you overrate someone who was in the select group of “only the best people”?

_________________
“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Anyone who goes against the president automatically sucks. I doubt that will be effective when it comes to Mattis.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Do you think there are a small number of lawbreakers and people are still protesting?

I know what people have said about him. This seems odd https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... on/612640/

Are you new to the board? You know how conversations go. We hardly moderate the board at all. Nor do we want to. If a conversation leads to some political thoughts, so be it. But you don't need to go out of your way to start political threads outside the Politics section.

Let me make it simple for you. Nobody is making money from this board. We don't run it like dictators either. Personally, I have no problem with politics all over the place.

So I'll ask the membership. Zippy doesn't seem to like the Politics section. Should we get rid of it?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Mattis is absolutely right. Trump was dead wrong for what he did and others around him were also wrong for not pushing back and going along with it.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Seems odd how? Not sure how any rational human being could disagree with Mattis’s statements.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

First off, I agree that you are very tolerant. That’s why I was surprised - especially considering my actual post was pretty benign. The politics section comment is petty. As I said it’s your board, your rules though. That’s fine.

_________________
“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Can you explain what happened so I understand what you believe? What does he did and others around him were also wrong for not pushing back and going along with it mean?

Did you read the article? The president had the military fire rubber bullets and tear gas a crowd of PEACEFUL protestors so a path could be cleared for a presidential photo op.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Therein lies the problem.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Again, it's NEVER been run like "my board, my rules". Nas described the genesis of the Politics section above and I think the vast majority of CFMB members agree with doing it and like that it was done.

You may think my comment was petty but I'm sitting here having to take heat for this bullshit. I thought maybe you wanted to share some of the heat. Because the Politics section wasn't created for me. I don't need it. It was done for the health of the board.

Finally, please don't play cute and coy about why you started the thread. If you honestly tell me your intention in posting it was strictly about the greatness of Jim Mattis and had nothing at all to do with what he said about Trump, I'll take you at your word because I think you're an honorable guy and I will apologize. But if not, just please put such stuff in Politics going forward and we won't have to have these conversations.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Except that narrative has been called into question if not outright debunked.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Mattis isn't wrong but he is delusional. The idea that the USA has any chance of healing and coming together is completely without merit.

Yeah. We're reading the same thing but interpreting it completely different.

Nah we got this. It’ll take another decade or so maybe. 2020’s could be a wild ride.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Its cute that you've found your inner patriot but this thing's over. There's no coming back from this one really. Country is descending into some form of lawlessness, when the dust settles from this the police are basically going to crawl into a hole. If you were somebody who never wanted them around before you're about to get your wish.

That’s good. Policing as its currently known in this country needs to be burned to the ground and started over from the ground up. Reform isn’t possible at this point.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

So the priest lied too? The park police just happened to clear a perfect path where the president would walk through minutes later? I know that you don't believe that. I also know that you know it was a stupid decision.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Not possible. The USA has third world crime rates, you try and get rid of police forces and you'll incur anarchy. Look at what's happening now.

What will likely happen will be something like South Africa. A politically appointed class of cops who dont really do anything. So those who can afford it will contract out heavily armed private security firms. And when those mercenaries kill people there will really be no recourse, because they have no responsibility but to serve their customers. And lest you think there will be any way to reform the system to ban private security, becuase the people employing private security forces will be the ones with all the money and influence.

They're just going to give up on lower income parts now. When police morale totally bottoms out they'll give up on a the middle income parts. Basically if you're in the top twenty percent you'll live in a different country than everyone else.

And if you dont believe me that this cant happen, I instruct you to the case studies of Brazil and South Africa.

I would like to note that I found South Africans of any ethnic group or race to be really enjoyable and bereft of many of the world qualities of American. They have a real sense of community despite a past that makes America's look downright cheery. If the average American can turn to be more like the average South African there is hope yet that the dying empire will at least salvage some respect around the world.

It’s gonna go one way or the other and I’d heavily bet on it going the opposite way. You seem to have some dissonance surrounding your beliefs on this. If you acknowledge America is already historically prosperous, even among the lower class, you should also acknowledge that there are still mass protests and unhappiness. The more hysterical among us keep invoking a second civil war. And you think it’s going to get a shitload worse and that will just be how society is? Lots of luck with that theory my friend. I’d recommend a history book or two.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You think this will get better?

Not before it gets worse probably, but yeah, it will get better. This isn’t the collapse of the Republic. Just feels like it is right now.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

There wont be a civil war. No way, you saw what happened when just the guard showed up. People scattered. Imagine what *one pass* from an A-10 just as a warning will do to these crowds?

Anyone who thinks the investor class is going to let them break up this highly profitable business machine over some trivial race nonsense is fooling themselves. I instruct you guys to look at how the markets have responded to this upheaval, they know there's no threat to the established order.

Its just going to decline and decline and decline. Not necessarily in money, but just in status and overall happiness. That feeling of unrelenting malaise and dread is what's going to get worse, even as the economy continues its unending moon mission. You know what we learned from the coronavirus panic? We learned the American government can print unlimited money and the worst consequence was a bizarre once-in-a-lifetime contango in the energy industry and grocery prices (temporarily) going up about five percent nationwide.

But that money isn't going to buy you the better life you wish it would. It's just there to keep the consumption train rolling.

Nah. Americans come together ultimately. Upheaval happens and then we come together again. That will happen this time as well. I’ve already been seeing it with friends of mine who were on the fence or even anti BLM after Ferguson being decidedly pro BLM now. I know multiple hillbilly Army buddies who have changed their opinion on it. The tide is shifting. But, like I said, I expect the 2020’s to be a wild ride. I don’t think it gets better in the next year or two.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul