The New and Improved Sam Spade Good Post Gallery.

[IceSpear]

What kind of dumbass question is that? LGBTQ people exist; hell, your kid(s) may even be among them. They'll likely have friends, teachers, and certainly peers who're LGBTQ. I honestly can't comprehend wanting to "shelter" children from LGBTQ people or ideas/themes when there's absolutely nothing wrong, bad, immoral, or harmful about them. So, some people are naturally attracted to the same or both sexes; some people have a penis, yet feel more like a girl. Who cares? There are much more important issues to be dealt with, like pedophilia *cough* Roy Moore *cough* and rape culture.

The only ideas and identities I don't want young children exposed to are bigotry and bigots.

[Beet]

If Trump was THAT BAD, personally, why didn't he endorse Hillary and campaign for her? 

LOL.

Anyway I think most people in the GOP were lying to themselves all the way up until November 8th that Trump would finally change once he got elected, but electing him only rewarded his boorish and disrespectful behavior. Why change when he ran and won the presidency on his first try with no experience? It only confirmed his crazy.

I think you're right on both the assumption that he'd change to be more effective and how winning only seemed to verify his delusional world-view.

It wasn't just the GOP who thought he'd change, that 'crazy Trump' was a marketing ploy for the election. I know I thought he'd be a much more effective advocate for (imho, awful) Republican policies, and even though I derided him during the campaign, I never dreamed he would be such an incompetent and stupid president.

And having his 'genius' confirmed is something he shares with Hitler. (Bear with me - this isn't  directly about Nazis, fascism, or all the horrors of Hitler's regime.) When Hitler took power, and started making aggressive foreign policy moves, his advisers and general observers thought he was stupidly insane. But he had a string of successes in defiance of conventional wisdom: the Anschluss, Alsace-Lorraine, Sudetenland. Hitler became convinced he was a supra-genius, and his conservative advisers fearful fools. He went all in, with Poland, then France and finally with Russia.

And it was on that last one that probability caught up to him. Hitler had never been a genius. He was just a guy who, in essence,  got lucky and had favorable circumstances. But I doubt he ever understood that, except maybe at the end right before killing himself.

Most of Trump's life, especially his time as a politician, has been the same. While we on the left can criticize Clinton for losing to Donald Trump of all people, the same is true from the other side. How much 'political genius' did it really take to win against a Democrat who's a poor campaigner with low charisma, embroiled in an FBI investigation, in 2016. One who's also the first woman major party nominee and has had mud (earned and not) flung at her for decades?

That Trump is mentally ill in ways that will only confirm his biases will just exacerbate the problem. Trump is going to keep thinking how awesome he is, until he makes an 'bigly' decision that explodes and sets off some sort of uncontrollable conflagration.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Politics.

Democrats won in 2008 and 2012, and while if only whites voted in 2008 Obama might still have slipped by, it was clear in 2012 that Obama would have suffered a crushing defeat had it not been for minority voters.

So first of all, democrats began to think that white voters didn't matter anymore, and secondly, they began catering to anything and everything that was pro-diversity, pro-minority. Defending Islam blindly, black lives matters, no respect for borders or security or any kind of immigration "reform".

It bit them in the butt, and now they have zero power. They have been bleeding white voters since the 1960s and it is only getting worse.

They realize this, and have begun to resent white voters.

[Santander]

Badger, RINO Tom, PNM, TheSaint250, Santander, Mortimer

Excuse me, but I'm probably more ideologically in line with more of the GOP's policy stances (abortion, death penalty, quasi-stricter immigration) than any of these other delusional RINOs, even if I'm the only one who is not lying to myself in that I should not be a Republican.

Perhaps, yet the others maintain a pretense of support for the GOP insomuch as they want to fix its problems and improve it, whereas your signature appears to flaunt a wish for its destruction and disingenuous primary voting.

The GOP is beyond repair, and thankfully it appears you are self-aware enough to realize that, as evidenced by your "Conservative" (or is it "Constitution"?) party avatar.

So yes, I am actively rooting for the party's demise. We need a healthy alternative to the Democratic Party. Not a party for resentful degenerates who pride themselves on ignorance and being the "true Americans" party while unironically flying the Confederate flag on their vehicles.

Until then, I will vote for Democrats in every single general election and for the most unelectable Republican in the primary. It's not like there's much of a difference between someone like Joe Arpaio and Martha McSally anyhow from a policy standpoint.

[Badger]

Politics.

Democrats won in 2008 and 2012, and while if only whites voted in 2008 Obama might still have slipped by, it was clear in 2012 that Obama would have suffered a crushing defeat had it not been for minority voters.

So first of all, democrats began to think that white voters didn't matter anymore, and secondly, they began catering to anything and everything that was pro-diversity, pro-minority. Defending Islam blindly, black lives matters, no respect for borders or security or any kind of immigration "reform".

It bit them in the butt, and now they have zero power. They have been bleeding white voters since the 1960s and it is only getting worse.

They realize this, and have begun to resent white voters.

The $hitposting thread is over there -----×

The admittedly this fits well into a thread named after Sam Spade

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

All evidence is that Trump will take care of the Dreamers.  All of them.  The price for this is a cut in the total level of immigration and an end to chain migration.

I've been hearing about the Poor Dreamers forever now.  I admit that I'm sympathetic to their plight.  Most of them are not illegally here by choice and know nothing but America.  I get that.

So where are the Democrats?  Why are THEY playing chicken with the Dreamers?  Cutting levels of future immigration and ending chain migration does NOTHING to negatively impact folks already here now.  This deal could be done; why not get to it? 

The only reason to reject such a deal is the Democrats' desire to manipulate immigration to make the demography of America more favorable to them.  Let's get real; that's what this battle is about.  That more immigration would mean more Democratic voters isn't a reason to cut immigration levels, but that less immigration means the opposite isn't a reason to increase immigration levels, either. 

I do not believe that high levels of immigration are in the best interests of the American citizenry at this time.  We have large numbers of Americans who are low-skilled and structurally unemployed; they ought to get first crack at unskilled jobs.  It is an issue of taking care of our own.   We don't owe foreigners anything.  We owe our people policies that are in the best interest of America.

[Badger]

I had an immobile, disabled mother who spent the entire Pawlenty era being threatened with her medicaid or home health aides being taken away... it became a yearly thing.  Many conservatives and Republicans agreed she should have it taken away and be left out on her own.  Those people are disgusting scum as well.

You clearly can't counter anything I said except for the words I used to describe a man I disdain for many legitimate reasons.  You're a disingenuous creep.

The man is scum.  And it doesn't surprise me that you like him.

This thread is a de facto Deplorable daisy chain. This post better deserves entry into the burn ward.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Many of Snowy's postings belong in the SS GPG.  Bravo!

[they don't love you like i love you]

Please don't put good posts like Snowguy's in this misogynist trash thread. Use the real Good Post Gallery for them.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I'm proud of folks like myself that go to work every day, regardless of whether or not their employers kept faith with them.  Who took 2nd jobs to ensure their families had what they need, because their work was not valued as much as the investment of stockholders or the complaining of rich taxpayers.  I'm proud of folks who went to work and delayed gratification; who didn't view themselves as automatically entitled, and who didn't quit, even when it was clear that everything wasn't going to turn out according to their hopes and dreams.

There are poor folks who have given it all they have.  I respect them.  There are poor folks who never attempted to work steadily, and who never viewed it as their responsibility to make their own way in life.  I have little respect for them.  And I don't respect yuppies and rich types who are ungrateful for what they have, never mindful of how much less others that have worked as hard as them do not have.

I respect work.  I respect perseverance.  I don't respect sloth and I don't respect quitters and those that won't try at life.

So you think it's okay that middle aged people complain about their jobs no longer existing because of technology?

I hate how middle aged people think that the government should enforce socialism and repress technological progress to ensure that their job still exists.

It's your own fault if the free market leaves you behind.

FWIW, I'm not a "middle aged" person.  I'm 61 years old.  Old enough to be your Grandpa, sonny.  I work, my wife works, we are raising our 12 year old son (a grandson we adopted out of necessity) and caring for a disabled adult family member while her husband (one of my grown sons) attends college following a serious on-the-job industry, after which the "fee market" screwed him out of his rightful healthcare.  You're young enough to be my grandson, and, in all likelihood, your biggest loss was probably when some hot looking girl dumped you without warning.  I could be wrong, but in my experience, folks who experience real tragedy (My Father died on my 10th birthday, for example.) have a wee bit more empathy than to view those less fortunate than them as losers in the game of "Free Markets".  (Old as I am, I can turn on the "condescending jets" when I need to rebut some of the same.)

One thing that middle aged folks face when they "retrain" for new careers, or upgrade their skill bases, is Age Discrimination.  The job search process (mostly all online today) preempts much pavement pounding, and is designed to increase the distance between job applicants and employers.  If I were to submit my resume, folks would immediately calculate my age and make decisions.  I'm viewed as someone who'll be sick a lot, who'll be tired, who'll be out-worked by younger hotshots, who'll be inflexible, etc.  Most older workers are far more open-minded and flexible than they're given credit for, but most hiring managers are young enough to be my son/daughter, and I'm sure they project any number of issues they have with their parents onto an older applicant like myself. 

I'm not feeling sorry for myself, but I'm also old enough to remember a Social Contract which included long-term security for workers who were loyal and faithful; it was a Social Contract that built Middle Class America.  I'm now told by snot-nosed Hedge Fund Manager Wannabes that this is somehow "socialism".  It's kind of like my car dealer singing one song the day I singed the contract for Gap Insurance when I bought my car, and another song when my car was totalled in a 5 car chain-reaction accident caused by a Smartphone Addict.  Folks tell my generation that we didn't play the Capitalist Game skillfully enough only AFTER they sucked the best working years out of our lives, making promises along the way that were often not kept.

The snot-nosed yuppies of MY generation trashed the middle class for the folks of my adult sons' generation.  And I look at my 12 year old son.  What is the motto for America going to be for him?  "Move It Or Lose It !"?  "Only The Strong Survive"?  My son has ADHD; will his willingness to work and his loving character mean nothing in the Social Darwinist World of 2030s Yuppie Hedge Fund Managers?  Is the America you have planned for him one where he is consigned to an underclass if he's a Capitalist Non-Hacker?  I see this as the World folks are creating for my Grandchildren's generation, and I weep at the thought of it.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Perhaps if we work hard enough at "inclusiveness", we will bleach out of our society all evidence of intimacy and spontainiety.  This article ought to validate all those folks who were criticized for making "too big a thing" of the issue of "political correctness".  This very issue is a caricature of political correctness; liberal elites in education attempting to regulate not just the behavior of children (an OK goal in most cases), but the thoughts and feelings kids have and the process by which they learn intimacy with others.

It would be a great thing if our society progressed to a point where kids friendship circles got to the point where it reflected the "rainbow coalition", with folks having a set of friends across the demographic spectrum.  But FORCING this at the expense of the intimate relationship of a best friend, a child's first intimate experience outside the family unit, taken to its ultimate level, will bring about kids growing up with wider associations, but shallower relationships.  Think about that for a moment and ask yourself if this is going to help kids to grow up to be the kind of marital partners and parents that can be sufficiently intimate with their own kids.

I have been the kid who was not included, or who was a fringe hanger on.  I wasn't real cool growing up.  I had some girlfriends, but I wasn't real popular with girls, and I was real awkward and clumsy around them, putting my foot in my mouth, etc.  But I did have best friends, and this was the saving grace for myself, and for any number of kids in school.  There are kids who have no friends, and that is sad.  But "forced inclusiveness" isn't the real answer to it; it's just an attempt to show that "the school" is "doing something".  

I would also suggest that this is part of a movement to drain society of intimacy by people who are scared of it.  I certainly don't approve of sexual battery or assault, but a certain amount of sexual harrassment, and even a certain amount of domestic violence, is a function of folks trying to be intimate and failing miserably at it.  Yes, people have the right to be safe in their homes and in their persons, period.  But is the solution to these problems to rob society of all intimacy so no one gets hurt?  

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

So much for Trump being a "Russian Mole" LOL. If Democrats were smart they'd stop the dumb Russia Conspiracy, because all it's doing is making their party look like sore losers and providing fuel for Neocons in the White House to start a war with Russia (or its allies Syria and Iran).

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Until anyone has a good, thoughtful, legitimate ing reason to be against justice for people of colour, fairness for women, acceptance of queerfolk, and kindness to people with different religious beliefs, this whole damn thing is a sick joke. Truly.

I mean, "anti-progressive?" WTF is that? You feel insecure that you're asked to have an iota of consideration for people who are different? You're uncomfortable accepting that some people are born into circumstances that force them to confront bigger barriers than you, just because you're afraid of the possibility that maybe you didn't "earn" everything you have with "hard work" alone?

JFC

Condescending individuals like you, young, inexperienced, and having paid no dues to life, don't get it.  What has been discounted, disrespected, and disregarded is WORK and WORKING Americans.  Folks like you, who haven't worked much, haven't sacrificed for others (I mean REAL sacrifice, not just an afternoon as a counter-demonstrator.), and haven't pulled their weight.

I'll tell you what my morning was like.  After working 40 hours on my regular job that requires a college degree, on which I haven't gotten much in the way of raises over the last decade (except for when I was promoted), I took my 61 year old butt to a local restaurant, where I have a part time job cleaning the place up, and getting it ready for opening, cleaning floors and bathrooms.  As an extra duty, I cleaned nasty, greasy garbage cans and pipes on a hard tile floor despite some aches and pains that are, likely, undiagnosed osteoarthritis.  I do this so my 12 year old son can have some extras (namely,, particiation in speed roller skating).  

I'm not asking for sympathy, and I'll own my mistakes and choices, but if you want to talk about confronting bigger barriers, how about my 12 year old son, who is my adopted step-grandson.  My wife and I adopted him due to the out-of-control substance abuse of my oldest son and his birth mother.  He's been diagnosed with ADHD, and I'm not going to vouch for the pre-natal care he received,  I'm not asking for folks to applaud my wife and myself, but I want you to consider how much difficulty he's had at school, and how much ignorance I've put up with by folks from all sorts of sources who seem to believe that if I only spanked him more, he'd learn and pay attention.  

Now I realize that other folks have endured prejudices and barriers, but I also realize that the rate at which Americans commit crimes is not uniform across all demographics.  Yes the wrongs of discrimination need to end, but the disadvantages of many who claim "discrimination" are, in fact, the disadvantages that come from poor life choices, including the decision to commit crimes.  I'm not for discrimination (especially discrimination in employment) and while I don't sign off on sexual sin, I'm not for Scarlet Letters or Government Jackboots kicking down doors for activities between consenting adults.  But you'll forgive me if I express the concept that the FIRST consideration of any government ought to be the concerns of the folks who do the work of society and pay the taxes.  

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The Obama years were not some sort of American Nightmare.  I voted for Obama in 2012 and I generally thought he was OK as President.  But the Obama years were years where those who didn't pay taxes, broke laws, and did little to contribute to the work of society had their grievances given top priority.  Rioters were referred to as demonstrators, illegal immigrants were presented at a political convention as "countrymen" and folks who actively resisted lawful arrests were made martyrs, while folks who cheered this on viewed coal miners as the real enemy, for their "attack" on "the environment" and cheered the loss of mining jobs.  And, yes, the media and many institutions overrun by liberal bias have more sympathy for select groups of "victims" than for folks who have followed the rules and find themselves out of jobs.  There was an "Enough is enough!" consensus on the issue of penalizing folks who took responsibility for their own lives and followed the rules and laws of society.

Decades of working, of supporting a family, of taking responsibility for both my life and the lives of my wife and children (especially minor children) has given me a worldview that only doing that can bring.  When you're adult enough to take on such responsibilities, and demonstrate enough grit to persevere in fulfilling them when the going gets tough, you'll have something with depth and weight to say.  Right now, you're merely pompous and inexperienced, and probably not up to what millions of folks do every day.  In my youth, I was a snotty know-it-all like you are now.  I now understand why folks blew me off.  Perhaps the maturing process will afford you the same experience.

And, perhaps, this is silly of me.  But your signature of Hillary and her mother (I think that's her.) laughing on a park bench.  It's easy for me to visualize her either laughing at the plight of ordinary, hardworking, culturally conservative law-abiding Americans when she's not lecturing them as Deplorable.  People like me OUGHT to be voting Democratic.  It's the attitudes of Democrats toward people such as myself that make it tough.  Trump, with all his imperfections, is willing to give at least lip service to honoring those who work and play by rules, as opposed to those who don't.  Yes, I get it' they're not actually doing that in the photo, but the imagery is easy to conjure up, and Hillary brought that on herself.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

This is why celibate clergy is a bad idea - they are so out of touch. (except, perhaps, with young boys) Everyone knows married couples don't have sex, and remarried couples are no different.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You know, this applies in many scenarios, but in this scenario especially: there were very clear signs that this guy had issues. He posted on social media his desire to harm people. He was expelled from the school for disciplinary issues. Those who knew him spoke of him as a loner, and a weird kid. Focusing on guns takes away from the real issue that we had something very preventable if others had actually stepped in to help this guy, be it teachers, parents/guardians, friends, etc. We should be focusing on who is failing these people, and how. The gun clearly isn't the problem.

[MAINEiac4434]

Mitt Romney is exactly the kind of woke conservative we need today in Washington, to bridge the divide between people of all backgrounds and political ideologies.  Indeed, by standing up to our divisive president on some occasions, Governor Romney demonstrated a kind of political courage unmatched by most other politicians in this current age of spite and polarization, and in doing so, fully embodied Michelle Obama's message of, "When they go low, we go high."  And, his commitment to getting stuff done is lit AF!

Welcome to the Resistance, Mitt.  This new era of love and tolerance, toward ALL Americans, begins with you. #inspiring #lovetrumpshate #unity #straightbutnotnarrow #alllivesmatter #makeamericawholeagain #nolabels #diversity #inclusivity

[Santander]

Mitt Romney is exactly the kind of woke conservative we need today in Washington, to bridge the divide between people of all backgrounds and political ideologies.  Indeed, by standing up to our divisive president on some occasions, Governor Romney demonstrated a kind of political courage unmatched by most other politicians in this current age of spite and polarization, and in doing so, fully embodied Michelle Obama's message of, "When they go low, we go high."  And, his commitment to getting stuff done is lit AF!

Welcome to the Resistance, Mitt.  This new era of love and tolerance, toward ALL Americans, begins with you. #inspiring #lovetrumpshate #unity #straightbutnotnarrow #alllivesmatter #makeamericawholeagain #nolabels #diversity #inclusivity

Wrong thread.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Every freedom comes with a cost. Allowing people to drink will lead to more alcoholism and alcohol-related deaths. Allowing people to drive will lead to more fatal car accidents. Allowing people to have guns will lead to more gun deaths. This is just a fact. The question is, what is your appetite for bearing the cost of freedom?

Deep down, most people don't really care about "regular" gun murders or suicides, they only care about mass shootings, especially school shootings, because of how emotionally traumatic and public those events are. Now, no politician would openly admit that people are generally so cold and aloof that they only care about murders in their country if they can see them, but I will say it like I see it.

Solving the "problem" of gun violence is irrelevant, because it is invisible to the vast majority of people. So I'm convinced that the best solution, cynical as it may be, is to mitigate against mass shootings through legislating access control, better-designed public buildings and spaces, more robust background checks (including enforcing laws on the books), etc. and gun control will die as an issue.

[Santander]

Ah yes, I’m sure this is the party of Lincoln that RINO Tom likes to remind us of!

Though credit where it’s due to ChairmanSanchez for being the only Republican to face the music in this thread, no matter how much his posts make one want to vomit.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I refuse to call the officer names or blame him. I do, however, think it is an excellent example of why a "good guy with a gun" is not the answer. The shooter went to this school. He knew where the officers were. He would know where armed teachers were, too, and would get the jump on them.

No excuses, he deserves plenty of the burden here...he isn't simply a "good guy with a gun" he's a trained officer. If he's folding under the pressure of kids being slaughtered he should have never signed up for the job, this is honestly criminal negligence.

[Santander]

A kind of caricature of the "fiscally conservative socially liberal" politician whose supporters think slashing public employees' pension funds and enacting taxpayer funding for abortion makes someone "moderate". HP.

[Santander]

Your last president's first action after leaving office was to sign a $65 million book deal. He's now working on an online television series. The last Democratic nominee, in concert with the previous Democratic president, used their decades of "public service" to build a personal fortune in the hundreds of millions.

Stein's grifting off of the desperation of #resistance libs who couldn't accept HRC's loss is trivial by the standards of American politics. It's also hilarious.

[Santander]

Germany has arguably dealt with its past in an unhealthy way, not only doing away with the Nazi history (rightly so) but also with the pre-Nazi history which definitely included good things as well. The response to this should be to move towards a more healthy view of history, respecting the good things in the past and building on them while clearly disavowing the bad things. But it appears as if many Germans are still not ready to do so. The trivialization of Nazism and Nazi crimes is just as unhealthy a response to Germany's past as Merkels' "refugees welcome". The latter may be more harmful to Germany, but the former is arguably more tasteless and vile.

AfD are truly a case where the inmates have taken over the asylum. Very sad, because Germany really needs a party like them.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Most of the listed conspiracy theories are of the sort common among the right, alt-right, and "Libertarians". The are people prone to delusions that cater to the ideas like "we're the only ones who know the real truth", or "we're special and we'd be on top of the world if it wasn't for them". Democrats don't trend towards that particular sort of delusion and irrationality. This isn't isn't to say they're perfect or always rational, just that anyone drawn to the sort of thinking that lets them believe in right-wing conspiracy theories probably isn't going to be a Democrat to begin with. (Although I'm certain there are exceptions.)

Conspiracy theories among Democrats would tend to be more of the sort that build on things they already believe to be true, just more extreme. Stuff like:

• The government is covering up even more atrocities than the ones we know about.
• That Trump is even stupider/more incompetent/more corrupt/more criminal than we actually have evidence for. (I mean, okay, he probably is, but for example the claim that he would have done better investing his money in the stock market isn't really true in any objective sense. The Pee Tape - and yes, I'm a Peeliever - is also a conspiracy theory.)
• That the Bush Administration and the military-industrial complex let 9/11 happen in order to justify wars of choice and military spending.
• Alternative health treatments really work, but the evidence is being covered up by the medical industrial complex.
• The ultra-wealthy are all part of some conspiracy. (Even though just individually acting in their own interests would produce the same sort of results...)
  

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

I think the unreleased Kavanaugh documents prove that he is the secret illegitimate lesbian transgender older sister of Kim-Jong Un, sent to the U.S. in secret and given a fake past for the purpose of undermining the government and creating a Trans-Pacific Democratic People's Socialist Republic. Since the documents have not been released, there is literally no way whatsoever for us to judge the plausibility of this suggestion based on the existence (or lack thereof) of extraneous evidence until all the documents are released.