Political Discussions

@silvermouse said:
Ok, I guess this is a political question, don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers, lol. How do you feel about the military using AI for domestic surveillance? Do you have a problem with it or think it is OK if it is for finding illegals? And is that something you agree the military should be doing domestically?

I am truly suspicious of AI for anything. The potential for abuse is staggering, and when were human beings ever successful at resisting the temptation to use a new weapon? They've opened Pandora's Box, let the genie out of the bottle, and no one understands the capabilities or limitations of this thing. Domestic surveillance is a danger unto itself.

@silvermouse said:
Ok, I guess this is a political question, don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers, lol. How do you feel about the military using AI for domestic surveillance? Do you have a problem with it or think it is OK if it is for finding illegals? And is that something you agree the military should be doing domestically?

Those who give up freedom for safety deserve neither. (B. Franklin)
The military doesn't come after shoplifters or bank robbers. They are a peace keeping force, not a police force. The thing everyone over looks here is that if we allow due process to be skipped for one group of people, then it can be skipped for any and all people. Some dude in a face mask kicks your door down and detains you for being an illegal, you don't get a lawyer, you don't get a court date. Now prove they're wrong...

@Wylaff said:

@silvermouse said:
Ok, I guess this is a political question, don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers, lol. How do you feel about the military using AI for domestic surveillance? Do you have a problem with it or think it is OK if it is for finding illegals? And is that something you agree the military should be doing domestically?

Those who give up freedom for safety deserve neither. (B. Franklin)
The military doesn't come after shoplifters or bank robbers. They are a peace keeping force, not a police force. The thing everyone over looks here is that if we allow due process to be skipped for one group of people, then it can be skipped for any and all people. Some dude in a face mask kicks your door down and detains you for being an illegal, you don't get a lawyer, you don't get a court date. Now prove they're wrong...

That's how it works, ICE enforcement is civil not
criminal.

Attack vehicles that will not think twice about killing our own citizens. Terminators?

@ShawnOL said:
Attack vehicles that will not think twice about killing our own citizens. Terminators?

I was thinking more like skynet but the possibilities like Intelligent Computerized Exterminators are endless! 😂

tariffs are a covert federal tax on consumers

"Healey is calling on the Trump administration to issue tariff refunds to Massachusetts residents. And by her office's calculations, the state's 2.8 million households are owed approximately $1,745 each. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Healey said that the tariffs — which were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last month — cost Bay Staters a total of nearly $5 billion in the form of increased prices for food, household goods and construction materials.

"U.S. customs officials said last week that they're actually working on a system to deliver tariff refunds. But it's designed for businesses that imported products, rather than individual consumers who paid downstream price increases."

Just remember that, petro execs.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” the president wrote on Truth Social earlier today.

"To him that hath, more shall be given; and from him that hath not, the little that he hath shall be taken away. The rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the State is driven between the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism."

Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1821

It's been kind of fun to watch all the old clips of various democrats promising that they would do exactly what Trump is now doing. They were all lying, of course, because that's what they do. If they ever fulfilled a promise, they'd have to come up with a new lie to tell us.

All my life I've heard people say that they wish they could send someone to Washington that didn't just conform to D.C. politics, that actually did what they said they would do, fulfilled their campaign promises. Well, this is what that looks like.

The Democrat Party has capitalized well on the power of Hate, capital H Hate. Donald Trump has made this easy for them, because he's really easy to hate. I couldn't bring myself to vote for him, although he was far and away the better of the two major-party candidates. Still, when listening to him talk all I can think is "what a jackass".

However, I try not to let my dislike for the man's personality influence my perception of reality. The Iranian's have been chanting "Death to America" at every rally for almost 50 years. They're not kidding, they really mean it. They've been perfectly willing to murder literally thousands of their own people, every week if need be, for that whole time.

The Democrat response has been "Well, if we give you billions of dollars will you promise not to use it to fund terror and build weapons of mass destruction?" They gleefully lie their agreement, take the money, and fund terror and invest in weapons of mass destruction. The Democrat response is "Well, if we give you MORE money will you promise again?" Of course they will, and then they spend the money on weapons and terror, again, and again, and again, and they will keep doing so until they can reach out and fulfill their promise of "Death to America".

Anyone in this country who "Stands with Iran", is the equivalent of "Chickens for KFC".

My distaste for DT is not so powerful that I'd rather see my country destroyed than agree with him. In this way I differ from many of my countrymen who'd rather have our whole way of life destroyed, our women raped, our citizens enslaved than to have to back this one man who's trying to keep them safe from those outcomes.

Cue Vision's "carry on clone" meme:

I guess I'm just remembering my friend, Mehri, a hairdresser from Tehran who managed to escape when the "revolutionaries" took over, and the stories she told me about what happened to her family members. But you're okay with that. Right?

Sorry, I don't have a hat, and, as I've said repeatedly, I never voted for Trump. Had I been MAGA I suppose I would have, but I'm not into cookie-cutter poses. I know this is disappointing for those who are, like you.

Chickens for KFC, Cancer victims for protection of tumors. I don't get it, but that's just who you are.

Everyone picks and chooses what they are comfortable with and discards or ignores discomforting facts, myself included in that 'everyone'.

If you're against losing American lives, then why aren't you against the ones who have been (and will continue) taking said American lives?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aS9Zn86stw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beaf-dXtZJc