Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Elections 2024 A question

Okay, let me crack my knuckles and jump in on this conversation. It’s been a while for me so cut me a little slack…
I’m with Carville. Biden and the dems need to go James Carville on trump. Say anything- true or make the $#!+ up, I don’t care, just go off on the guy and maybe, just maybe, the media will cover it if for no other reason than to prove/disprove comments… seems to work for the maga bunch.
I cannot speak for other parts of the country but here in TN, the maga thing is simply about old white men clinging to power and guns. They do not care about right or wrong, they care about power- white power, and guns. We’re telling teachers what and how to teach, what books can be in our libraries, and now we’re arming them in the classrooms- of course they have to complete training and get certified to carry in the classroom. (For some reason certification makes no sense for ordinary citizens)
I saw something on TikTok the other evening that puts it about right… repubs will starve 100 children for fear that a couple black kids would get a free meal, dems will feed a 100 children in fear that 1 child would go hungry. That’s the mentality of many white folk, and most identify as christians.
If the threat of authoritarianism, lack of gun control, voter suppression, pillaging women’s rights and corporate greed creating artificial inflation isn’t enough to provoke someone to vote, then this experiment, democracy, is not only winding down, it’s finished.
That’s my take on it.
Much obliged,
Livetoride

I suspect that you might be closer than you think. I also think, however, that when you refer to Christians that you are referring to you might change that to "White Christian Citizens" who are, I think, the largest group currently claiming Christianity. They are kinda interesting. I suspect you might want to look them up along with something called the 2025 plan (it lays out how Trump is going to do when he wins (one way or the the other)).

After you do that one I wonder if you might share just where you will be moving to.....

Oh yes, I should’ve been more specific. “White christians” definitely. I do not identify as one anymore so I inadvertently left white out. Ironically, it was the Pacific Rim tsunami in 04, which I learned about from a ham radio operator that blogged here- think he was Pacific Northwest, that was the last straw for me on the whole Christianity thing. I grew up Methodist, the melting pot of christianity. I mean, if one cannot identify as Methodist, you’re simply clinging on to the faith. I gave my pastor 2 weeks to mention the disaster in his sermon, then notified my Sunday school teacher, our D.A., that I was done. He understood. I suspect his involvement in our small congregation was a business decision anyway.
After the blogger posted about the tsunami (wish I could remember his handle) I scoured cable news for hours. Finally, CNN reported that, “hundreds feared dead”. Understatement by hundreds of thousands. Eventually, a couple of foot washer preachers devoted sermons explaining god hit Indonesia because it was a popular vacation destination for homosexuals. (I read about that)
I’ve been to churches for funerals and memorial services, but that’s it. My wife of 32 years is cool with it, but she still identifies as christian.
Bart Ehrman, Sam Harris are, I find, more logical alternatives- at least that’s how I’m wired.
Sorry to hijack the post. Like I said, been a while for me but this place has remained true to its mission. For 20 years it’s been a place for me to visit, learn and challenge what I thought I knew. (Borrowing from NPR) I appreciate the forum and how respectfully it’s run.
Much obliged,
Livetoride

I don't think there is anything wrong about being a Christian, Mormon, Catholic, whatever. Its find with me. This is their problem. There are a lot of these kinds of things that are "their problem". A few more, being Jew, being Black, being Green or Being Yellow, I just do not care. This list is, basically, huge and pretty universal and its all about stuff that is personal to the beholder. I just don't give a damn. I do, however, start to care when they want to tell me that I must change some of the stuff that are my problem. I am not exactly young and I have much that tends to be, if nothing else, bad manners. I try to not but, unfortunately, sometimes go too far.

Anyway, one of my main problems is trying to understand those who are concerned about problems that are personal, such as I have listed (could have put up more but, I think, you get it). I just do not get it when somebody cares about somebody who has something personal and theirs, such as color, education, etc. Not my problem, do not give a damn. I do care about friends but not real interested in talking about their problems. All that being said there have been wars fought over somebody else's problem! As long as its theirs, and they are not trying to make me take it on its fine with me.

Anyway, for what its worth, being a Christian is fine with me but, if so, its your problem and, in that particular case, not mine. Don't mean we can't talk or be friends. People can even talk about their problems. Some are interesting, some or not but, at the end its their problem!

That, I suspect, pretty much covers it............ (for me)

Trump had a little talk, on TV about the fact that he was convicted of 34 serious crimes. He carried on for quite some time. First he went through his standard lies, and then he moved on with the anger he has for Michael Cohan, who actually borrowed against his house to get money for him and then went to jail for him. You all know the drill - just the standard Trump stuff. In this case, however, he broke the rule about going after those that were witnesses amongst others. He, basically, did everything somebody who has been convicted and awaiting sentencing is not supposed to do. The normal criminal gets to go to jail but, him being incredibly important, I suspect its gonna be another Trump skate.

Then our Democratic president - Silent Joe Biden, had a MUCH shorter talk about how Trump was being mean about our laws, etc. He never called Trump on any of his lies, you know, the one, for instance, that says that he is responsible for the millions of bad people coming into the United States because its all his fault. He left out the part that TRUMP is responsible, TRUMP was the guy who made sure by forbidding the Republican house to NOT support their own bill, that they wrote, about taking care of our southern border thereby making sure that troubles in our south continue.

So, again, I wonder if Biden really does want to lose the election whilst ignoring his competition's lies, accusations, etc. Its a fair question I think.............

Oh, there is, actually, a plethora of books written by those that have been screwed by Trump, Cohan is just the newest. On top of that there is also a bunch who were owed money and just gave up getting it because Trump kept such charges going for a very long time. (before he got into politics nobody would work for him anymore without the money up front!) I wonder why they all have not joined up and created a club, possible called "The Screwed by Trump Folk". They could join up, have a little beer and tell each other how they got screwed by Trump.

You may be encouraged by this:
Biden blames Trump, GOP for leaving him ‘no choice’ on asylum order

"President Biden on Tuesday blamed former President Trump and Republicans for leaving him with no choice but to act on curbing the influx of migrants at the U.S.-southern border.

The president, in remarks from the White House, said he is “moving past Republican obstruction” to act on his own and announce the order, which will be in effect when the seven-day average of daily border crossings exceeds 2,500 between ports of entry.

“Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation, because that’s the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now that’s broken, fixed. To hire more Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, more judges. But, Republicans left me no choice,” Biden said.

He called the bipartisan border bill negotiated in the Senate, which Republicans blocked twice, “the strongest border security agreement in decades” and blamed Trump for its failure.

“Republicans in Congress, not all, walked away from it. Why? Because Donald Trump told them to,” the president said. “He told the Republicans… that he didn’t want to fix the issue; he wanted to use it to attack me. That’s what he wanted to do. It was a cynical, extremely cynical political move. And a complete disservice to the American people who are looking for us, not to weaponize the border but to fix it.”

I just read this one and, now, feel bad. I have been going at Biden tooth and nail and I gotta stop it! I want the man to win! It just seems as if he doesn't some times. I also, incidentally, think he is going down in history of one of the greats as he has done some pretty amazing things. The thing that makes me wonder, along with many others, is that he doesn't seem to get any real praise for what he has done. Its a regular and often thought by many in writing and on TV.

Its all kinda peculiar. When he gives a talk he is covered by TV but, for some reason, he is never close to the effort that Trump puts into his own TV exposures. The democratic part has got to have people who understand all of this and can explain it to Biden so he can get the same exposure?

Anyway, sometimes I catch myself being a jackass - my whining about Biden is one for sure.

Ol' Joe has and he's not getting the credit. His own team should be on the news every night reiterating over and over and over what he has accomplished.

Ol' Joe has done MORE for the American people in three years, than most POTUS have done in eight years in the past 50 years.

The inflation narrative is asinine. Prices go up. We are also getting out of a global pandemic and there is a war in eastern Europe wrecking havoc on food prices (grain, sunflower oil) and gas (Russian sanctions).

Then there are the foolish countries that support Russia in their occupation of Ukraine: Saudi Arabia for one.

Most people are just lazy, intellectually. They don't spend much time thinking about how things fit together. That allows con men like Donald Trump (and much of the Republican party) to make stupid, baseless - but simple - arguments that resonate "if you don't think about it." That last point is the key.

For example, "Are you better off today than 4 years ago?" Well, s***, yeah. Four years ago we were in the middle of a global pandemic that killed millions of people and was incompetently managed by Trump so badly that the economy nearly crashed. Instead, they focus on things like inflation (which was largely boosted by a global shortage of materials). But, if you look at the metrics, Joe Biden has handled it so marvelously we are again the envy of the world. Highest employment rate outside of Japan; lowest inflation rate; GDP growth; Per Capita income; fuel prices; crime rate; wage growth, pick a category. Why the US economy is doing so much better than the rest of the world (CNN)

Unless one bothers to look at "comparators", and most don't, they don't realize how well we are doing - and what would have happened otherwise.

All this, being true, yet Joe just may lose to somebody who was declared, after the last Trump presidency, four years ago, the worst president in the history of the United States of America. Something is very, very, wrong.

If this is true one would think there is some way to fix it but the truth seems that's not going to happen. Biden tells us that the upper 10% only pay 8% in taxes. When he tries to fix it he fails. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the story goes on and on. Apparently nobody cares about such stuff. Perhaps our real problem is that we no longer give a damn? We have a congressional house, for instance, that has done less, for longer, than any other congressional house in the history of the nation. I also learned that we have, however, doubled the amount of rules and regulations in the last few years. (it was in a book and I would tell which one if I remembered - I failed. I did, however, search for "book that explains an increase in american rules and regulations". There are a LOT of books on that one). If that is true then that, perhaps, is what is the basis for the problem.

I keep thinking that there has to be some kind of reason for the utter lack of reason.