Danny Dravot

Hmm. Wanna hear my thoughts about stimulus checks?

Never heard of Annie Karni before. Don't really care who she is. Her input here is moronic. That "unmitigated disaster" produced multiple vaccines to a major pandemic in nine months. Slower rollout in the first two weeks of distribution is disappointing but hardly destroys the value of the entire enterprise. Are you suggesting Republicans are hoarding the vaccines for themselves? I saw news of Kamala getting the vaccine the other day (as she should). I'm in the National Guard- some of us are on full-time orders for COVID and we are prioritized to get the vaccine over those who are not on active orders. Makes sense to prioritize people who are working in shared spaces rather than people who are at home wanting extended UI and stimulus checks.

You guys are hilarious. Panic to your heart's content, then.

Then she should point that out. We are underperforming the estimates, which, knowing how bombastic Trump is, isn't surprising. But we're not going to take ten years.

This isn't holding anyone's feet to the fire. This is just fodder for people who think journalists are the dumbest creatures on the planet. If Eloy hits one home run in the first ten games of next season, the poster who panics about how he's only gonna hit 16 bombs all year, his power is gone, and the Cubs won the Quintana deal, is gonna get laughed at. It's the same with this lady. There's a TON to criticize Trump about, especially this year. The speed of vaccinations in the first few weeks of their existence isn't one of them. I've read elsewhere that by June, everyone who wants the COVID vaccine will have had it. If that doesn't happen, criticize away. But don't run around believing the current pace is the pace forever.

Dude, I disagree with you on a lot of things, but you're smart enough to understand why this tweet is absolutely idiotic fucking dogshit. That "journalist" ought to be ashamed to have even thought of it.

That makes no difference regarding his employment status at Walter Reed.

You take a job at a military hospital, you ought to know the stakes. The commander-in-chief can be shredded on the pages of the New York Times, but he's not going to be shredded by the likes of you. There was a video a while back of a uniformed sailor getting out of her car next to a small Trump-y gathering and screaming "fuck Trump" in their faces. I agree with the sentiment, if not the hysterical foaming-at-the-mouth expression of it, but to say so publicly is a career ender for a military member or DOD civilian and should be. I never liked Obama but I didn't run my mouth about what an awful president I thought he was.

Musgrove sucks and you want to give up Madrigal+? Glad you don’t run the team.

That’s fair, and thanks for providing those examples. Like everything, it isn’t absolute. But in general, Russia had a long history of producing great artists and seven decades of communism really quenched that flow. And to the original argument, it’s really dumb to think that culture would flourish if profit motive wasn’t a thing- for one, the Renaissance was fueled by rich people who longed for great art. It’s sort of ridiculous that Karl Marx thought rich people would just hoard their money and sit in bland rooms with gray walls and no sound. No, that’s what tended to happen under communism where life turned into a miserable rat race to survive. Wealthy societies commission artists to bring color to the world. Not surprising that Marx was wrong, though. I think Max Rose is going to run. We held the same rank and deployed with the same brigade (4,000ish people). I remember a Rose and his face looks really familiar, but I can’t really remember if we interacted. I don’t have a dog in the fight but I hope he wins.

If I more than anything wanted art, music, and literature, I’d want to be anywhere but the USSR, China, or North Korea. And Russia has some great cultural icons too. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, all dead before the Revolution. Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Nabokov fled from it. Who came out of revolutionary Russia? Gorky? Alright then. I’ve said it many times- I am a conservative who voted for Biden to stop Trump. I do not think Democrats in the main are socialists. I acknowledge that some of them are declared democratic socialists- I think they are idiots but they also wouldn’t ship me off to a GULAG and Democrats have rejected them anyway (for now). All that being said, my point works a lot better if the “I’m totes not a socialist, guyz” crowd didn’t go around favorably quoting Karl fucking Marx. Not a great look.

Except the $1,200 capped out at certain levels so it was dedicated primarily to those of lesser means, and while you might disagree with tax cuts, it’s returning to people their own money. Student loan forgiveness looks at debt that people took, ignores that they got what they paid for, and then frees them from it. Now, for people who got ripped off by stupid things like Phoenix or ITT or Trump U, they should be reimbursed and the courts can handle that.

I know some people will argue, “you’re saying that your life sucked so other people’s lives should suck too”? If that’s how they want to read it, they’re free to do so. I objectively have less money because I did the right thing and paid my loans off. If I had known this was coming, I should have been a schmuck and not paid anything. In fact, I still owe on one loan and make payments monthly- should I just stop doing that because I get the sense that’s the way the wind is shifting? Don’t worry though. I think that is a super fucked up course of action.

Who took out those student loans? And credit cards? Are you responsible for the fact that 24 y/o me decided he needed a touchscreen desktop all-in-one computer that he couldn’t afford and lived with the resulting debt and interest for five years or so? I don’t believe you’re advocating for socialism and that is not my accusation at all. I’ve said many times that I’m in favor of a limited welfare state that prevents actual suffering. So public option for healthcare with some sort of phased out subsidies for lower income levels, unemployment insurance and food stamp programs that are available but push recipients towards independence, federal support for homeless shelters, etc. I’d advocate for all of that. However, forgiving student loan debt is wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich. My aunt and uncle didn’t go to college and live a Hillbilly Elegy life in podunk, but her sibling, my mother, has a graduate degree and the money that eventually comes with it. Should the former have helped the latter with a debt they didn’t incur so she could have benefits they never would? No way. My mom took out the loans and reaped the benefits- that wasn’t anyone else’s responsibility. College grads can’t fully participate in the economy? Bummer. Neither did I for several years while I paid off silly credit card debt and the most onerous student loans. Society would have had a responsibility to make sure that even in my foolishness I didn’t starve to death, sure, but whether I could vacation in Europe and eat at fancy restaurants wasn’t its concern. Are our college grads housed, fed, and medically covered? Yes? Then we’re good.

I know you’ve blocked me so you won’t see this, but that’s the enlisted oath. “To the president and the officers appointed over me”. Officers only swear to uphold the Constitution.

@Soxbadger @southsider2k5 @Balta1701 I am still a free speech absolutist- I see Balta’s comment about pulling a BLM banner off a church and burning it and that’s more of a property crime to me than anything else (people can freely burn their own BLM and American flags etc). IMO, the concept of hate crimes punishes ideas rather than actions (or exacerbates punishment based on the idea driving the action) and is anathema to a society that respects free expression. HOWEVER, I have been out of the loop and did not know Flynn was involved in briefings at the White House. I don’t know why he would be, but POTUS being who he is, I am not surprised. I saw him tweeting some lunacies the other day and figured his current ramblings were more of the same and that he was no more than a released prisoner. I took my defense of him far longer than I should have and have no interest in continuing it further.

I’m genuinely curious how you’ve established your line here. Can I rant about our need for a military coup on Twitter? Or am I safe? Why? You don’t care that some protesters want the downfall of the USA. Fine, but why? Because we’re all nobodies? Is that the difference maker?

Correct. The military would not carry out those orders.

Ok, agree to disagree.

So what do you want to do? You still haven’t said. Should Michael Flynn be jailed? Should the people of TX-2 be disenfranchised and their representative jailed because he espouses viewpoints that you dislike? If you just want to label it a coup so you can panic about it on here and Twitter, then fine, go ahead and we can just end this debate now. But if you want to call this a coup so that we can dispose of it as the entire world disposes of coups, and bring the force of the US government down on those responsible (including the most awful of Flynn’s suggestions- deploying the military), then no, I disagree. I maintain my position. This is idiotic and even dangerous speech. But even dangerous speech is still free.

I’m protecting both. Anyways, fine, let’s call it a coup. What do YOU want done?

The words of that code also apply then to the protesters I mentioned. They are willfully advocating the desirability of overthrowing and destroying the US government. Are they not? I would argue on behalf of both Flynn and the protesters that, no matter what the statute says, speech should not be restricted. There is no harm until there is an action. You would only argue as much for one of the groups. Why?

Michael Flynn holds no official position or authority and he lives in disgrace. He's not much different than those protesters in Denver. I'm not personally concerned that those protesters are going to get their way (I've repeatedly told greg to calm down about it) and I feel the same way about Flynn. You desperately want to call certain things a coup. Well, what would you like to do about it? When a coup happens elsewhere, the plotters get crushed. Do you want Michael Flynn thrown in jail because of his words? Do you want idiotic Republican congressmen to be removed from the House and their voters to be disregarded in an undemocratic fashion? You don't like it? Fine. I don't like it either. But I'm not going to turn into an authoritarian because of speech.

I'm sorry- what military rank does Michael Flynn hold?

No. My wife took out a loan to study abroad and she got that benefit. We still owe a little bit of money on it and it is our obligation to pay it back.