Favorite recent post by the previous poster

[TheSaint250]

Wrong. Hillary would have beaten a traditional boring candidate like Jeb, and probably Kasich too, judging by how incompetent his primary campaign was.

Nah, besides Jeb and Carson, I think any of the other Republican candidates would have defeated Hillary.  Just look at her unfavorable numbers from the end of the primary season onward.

[Dr. MB]

Left-wing populism that dabbles into libertarianism

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Not completely related, but Rick Scott is much older than I thought he was. I thought he was maybe in his early or mid 50s, but he’s 65!

[_]

Thank you for serving well with me in the People's House! I hope your life gets better soon. It was nice working with you, and I hope you make a comeback in the future!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Cedric Richmond is a communist in this world?

Yes

[Cactus Jack]

More horrifying than a Stephen King book.
Wait, MD avatar?
Ok, that looks normal.

[wxtransit]

Don't you need to clean your basement?

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Now accepting write-ins for the General Secretary of the Communist Party.

[Sirius_]

No offense to you guys, but is it that hard to say “that’s terrible, hope everything’s okay” without speculating or making snarky comments?

[All Along The Watchtower]

I do feel like I become less productive when I am faced with a deadline far from now. An interesting philosophy.

[kyc0705]

Yes (Millennial - normal)

[America Needs R'hllor]

As a start to gun control in this country, we need to ban any and all assault (most auto and semi-auto) weapons to people in the general public. There is absolutely no reason for people to own these weapons. They are designed for one thing and one thing only .... to kill people en masse.

Its not that you get one and want to use it. You'd rather have one in the event you really need one than really needing one and be left to your own devices

I can absolutely say that I would never want to own a gun of any sort. Like countless other people, I've struggled with depression and anxiety in the past, and there have been days that I honestly believe the only reason I'm here right now is that I didn't have an easy method to do something very stupid. I'm absolutely terrified to think about what I would have done if there'd been a gun nearby.

When you have a device whose sole purpose is to destroy things, you're much more likely to hurt yourself or someone you love, even if by accident. Even in a person with no history of mental illness, a temporary episode could prove devastating.

Should people have the right to own firearms? If it's there in the constitution, I suppose so. But can we PLEASE stop enforcing this idea of a hero fantasy? Or that everyone's going to need one at some point in their lives? It's just totally disingenuous.

[RFayette 🇻🇦]

This why i will never support Gillibarnd
*Snip*

Lol, whether you like him or not (I certainly don't), he's the Prime Minister of Israel. The leader of an allied country of the U.S. A Senator who agrees to meet him doesn't necessarily show support for him, but for our country. This just makes me like her more.

It's not only because the meeting,she is really bland on the israeli-palestinian peace process.
I want a president who will say to Netanyahu  "if you will build even one house in the settlements you will pay the price".

Well, then I guess we disagree on the interests of our country. I want an American President who will put pressure on both sides and manage to seem like a honest negotiator for the Palestinians, but you can't just pressure Israel like Obama did- you need to put pressure on the Palestinians, who are the biggest obstacle to peace. And I want a pro-Israeli President like Gillibrand who understands our need for security.

[TJ in Oregon]

Selected in spite of the line about Luther

More unfathomable. I don't understand why a deity sufficiently powerful to create the universe and all its laws would be so human and petty to demand worship. If God does exist, the idea of them having a personality comprehensible to a human being, let alone feeling insecure due to a lack of worship, seems unrealistic.

Why are you, a finite human so certain that an infinite being would or wouldn't act a certain way?

Children sometimes have trouble understanding why their parents do what they do simply because they lack the knowledge and their parents are operating at a different level. The gap between an omnipotent, omniscient being and finite humanity dwarfs the gap between parent and child.

Due to that gap in knowledge, I don't think you can posit an omnipotent, omniscient being and deduce much about their character, at least not without additional information. Christians, Muslims etc have the benefit of God revealing his character through religious texts, but you presumably don't have that luxury.

William Lane Craig had a good point about this in one of his podcasts.  He was discussing the problem of evil, but it also applies to this; atheists have a heavy burden of proof to say that any action of God is morally wrong or unjustifiable because they would have to exhaustively rule out every conceivable objection and rule out the existence of unknown factors (which would obviously be applicable when we're talking about an omnipotent God) in order to make their case. 

Nonetheless, this isn't to say that it's a difficult question on an emotional level.  Scripture gives some pretty clear guideposts as to what a lot of the reason is for hell and for salvation being the way it is, but it is perfectly understandable why we as humans find these sayings hard.  Luther understood the scriptures better than just about any major Christian figure and he knew that this was a challenge - but as with many Biblical issues, faith is required on our end.

[YE]

Our society is crumbling because it is built upon an individualism without higher commitments beyond the self to restrain it. A society has to actually be built upon something: some set of principles, morals, codes, religions, etc. in order to evaluate and resolve controversies. In many ways our society is constructed such that all concerns are valid except for those that constitute some sort of higher principles. And while this is true in the political sphere, that's not really the heart of the issue. Somehow the idea of tolerance turned out to mean that it is in bad taste to openly profess firm views in matters of philosophy and religion (and to a lesser degree politics). For example, I used to have a coworker with whom I had substantial disagreements about philosophy and religion that informed our political differences, but instead of actually discussing things we cared about, we spent most of our time bickering about Trump and Russia, which neither one of us pretty clearly actually cared about. I think this sort of thing is indicative of a wider social atmosphere where discussions have nothing to do with substantive disagreements and everything to do with trying to score a couple cheap points by throwing around mud at random and hoping some sticks.

In short: Principles >>>> Outcomes

[_]

Bagel isn't wrong about his establishment connections but he's not taking any corporate or PAC money, so will he really do their bidding in DC or not? Also on what issues Conor Lamb has actually flip flopped on? Most people are somewhere in between pro-life and pro-choice, so I don't think his abortion stance is that problematic. I actually agree with you on the broader point that far too many Democrats trying to weave in and out of crap though Conor Lamb is less guilty of this than the infamous 2014 Kentucky Senate nominee who refused to say whether she voted for Obama or not or said 1996 Democratic nominee for president who sounded like a Republican on the debate stage.   

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Cedric Richmond is a communist in this world?

Yes

[kyc0705]

This is irony encapsulated.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Students are organizing walk-outs. As awful as this catalyst was, I hope they hit the ground voting en masse at 18. I was so frustrated with my cohort not voting right away.

Just listen to the Parkland survivors in general. In one voice they're saying "Gun Control Now" and "Go Away Trump". How is this not signaling a shift?

I've noticed this too. I want to feel like there's something different this time. Or at the very least, we’re laying the early groundwork of a new phase of activism that might have a better shot of breaking through in the future, as these avoidable tragedies keep happening. These survivors have been a model of how to channel horror into action, and harness the power of social media.

[RFayette 🇻🇦]

No. 18 is just perfect, though I do agree that most 16 and 17 year-olds are only marginally less informed than adults. Still, it's too early and you need at least some experience.
Alcohol-purchase age should definitely be lowered to 18, though.

[teafarm99]

Why not?  



I'm 2nd person from right.  Went hiking in Half Moon Bay.

[Dr. Arch]

I like the fake election maps. They put so much effort into something that is completely fake and I am so here for that

[Atlas Force]

After the 2018 Midterms, the Dems gain a seat with a tied 50-50 senate.

No chance. Democrats are defending 10 seats in red states. Republicans are only defending one seat in a swing state. Democrats will be lucky to avoid Republicans picking up 5 or 6 seats.

Oh dear. Another one of these guys.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I’m not sure Democrats would be happy with a VP nominee who would cost a difficult-to-hold Senate seat that would almost immediately be filled by a Republican governor if the Dem ticket wins, which in turn would hurt their legislative agenda.

Oh, and inb4 “that’s if she even wins re-election because she’s totally gonna lose lol”

[Dr. Arch]

HillGoose is ultimately harmless.