AMA Fuzzy Bear (approaching age 65 version)

[Fuzzy Bear]

This thread is a necessary step to cement my status as a Forum Institution in that it's a way to get to 20k posts by my 65th birthday.  So go ahead.

[HillGoose]

looking back, is there anything you would have prioritized more from ages 25-45 if you had the chance to re-live that time frame?

[OSR stands with Israel]

- Are you a fan of any sport leagues and if so what is your favorite team

- What is your favorite movie

- Looking Back are there any votes of yours you regret and you would change with hindsight

- Who is your favorite president since you started voting and who was your least favorite before Biden

[Utah Neolib]

What is your favorite NCAA basketball team?

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Do you ever exaggerate your level of support for Trump for effect on Atlas or is it an accurate reflection of the degree/vehemence with which you support him?  Semi-relatedly, do his more authoritarian actions ever give you any pause, setting aside your opinion of Democratic politicians/policies?

[BG-NY]

Do you regret supporting Obama, knowing he (along with Covid) gave rise to Biden? I am lower on Obama and higher on Biden than you are, just wondering your take.

[Fuzzy Bear]

looking back, is there anything you would have prioritized more from ages 25-45 if you had the chance to re-live that time frame?

I wish I had made working out and regular exercise a habit back then.  If the word is "prioritized", that would be it.

[Fuzzy Bear]

- Are you a fan of any sport leagues and if so what is your favorite team

I'm an NFL fan and NCAA Football Fan.  I root for Florida's teams in all sports because it was hard for us to get them. 

My favorite College team is the Ohio U. Bobcats.  My Dad went from an orphanage to being a freshman in 1929.  He wasn't able to complete, but he was the first one in my family to go to college.

- What is your favorite movie
 

Payback starring Mel Gibson

The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid starring Steve Martin

- Looking Back are there any votes of yours you regret and you would change with hindsight
 

I would have voted for Gerald Ford in 1976.

I would have voted for Ellen McCormick for President, the Right To Life Party candidate, in 1980. (I abstained.)

I would have voted for Ron Paul in 1988.  (I voted for Dukakis; the most soulless man I ever voted for who ran for President.)

I would have voted for Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, given that Clinton and Bush are little different.  A stronger showing by Perot both years may have blunted the globalist tendencies of both men.

I would have voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000. 

I don't know if I truly "regret" voting for Kerry in 2004, McCain in 2008, or Obama in 2012.  Obama's post-Presidency has truly saddened me.

- Who is your favorite president since you started voting and who was your least favorite before Biden

My favorite is Donald Trump.  Unapologetically so.  No President was ever less hesitant to attempt to enact his policies without care for reelection than Donald Trump.  Whatever one thinks of those policies is another matter, but he was result-oriented, more so than any President in my lifetime.

Aside from Biden, my least favorite President, all things considered, was Jimmy Carter.  I have gone back and forth about him, but I have concluded that he was a conceited narcissist who turned out to be simply not up to the job he sought frantically.

Carter was less than 2 years into being Governor of Georgia when he decided he was just as good or better than the crop of Democratic hopefuls seeking the 1972 nomination.  Given that the crop included men of substance such as Scoop Jackson and HHH, this seems to be preposterous, but Carter really thought so.  During the primary season he trashed McGovern and was a leader of the movement to stop his nomination.  After the convention, Carter gave a rather tepid endorsement, saying that he would vote for McGovern but would not campaign for him.  But AT the convention, after McGovern was nominated, Carter called Scoop Jackson (whose nomination he supported and seconded at the convention) at 4 AM and asked Jackson if he would call McGovern and ask him to pick him (Carter) as his VP.  Jackson's biographer, Robert Kaufman, stated that Jackson could never think of Carter again without a certain degree of revulsion.  McGovern was quoted as calling Carter "the biggest pr!ck in politics".  (McGovern privately cast his ballot for Ford in 1976, saying he really didn't know this Carter.  That was not true; McGovern knew him and made up his mind in 1972.)

After writing this, however, and looking at it, I still think that the Bushes did more harm with their infusion of globalism into our politics and economics.  Bush 41 did the most damage here; his globalist legacy of shuttered factories and communities that have never recovered lasts to this day.  So I'll revise to say that Carter is the least favorite that I voted for and Bush 41 is the least favorite that i didn't vote for.

[Fuzzy Bear]

What is your favorite NCAA basketball team?

The Albany Great Danes.  It's a big deal when they make the NCAA and then get blown out in the first round!

[brucejoel99]

Why do you ignore fact-checks of your posts from other posters when they show facts that don't align with your "beliefs"?

[NOVA Green]

What did you think of the Vietnam War when you were a Teenager, considering you were within the age bracket where you could potentially have been drafted had the War not ended sooner.

I would imagine you likely had older relatives and family friends who did serve in Vietnam and most likely you were following this relatively closely even when you were 14.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Do you plan to vote for or against Rubio and DeSantis in 2022, and do you plan to vote for or against Scott in 2024?

[Hindsight was 2020]

Why do you never owned up to 2020 not being stolen when you spent most of November and December saying you would if the Courts said everything was legitimate? (which they did)

[Fuzzy Bear]

Do you ever exaggerate your level of support for Trump for effect on Atlas or is it an accurate reflection of the degree/vehemence with which you support him?  Semi-relatedly, do his more authoritarian actions ever give you any pause, setting aside your opinion of Democratic politicians/policies?

The second question first:  I don't view Trump as authoritarian.  We have authoritarianism now, imposed on us by the Politburo of Vichy America, with our own Marshal Petain as a Front Man.  Yes, this is an exaggeration, but not as much as it ought to be.  Trump, ironically, was a bulwark against the kind of authoritarianism we have now; his blustery side and the fact that he is, indeed, a blowhard at times, masks the fact that Trump did not govern by Executive Orders and Edicts anywhere near the degree to which our present President does.  (Once people get over their Trump Fever and are able to see him in a more rational light, this fact will stand out.)

The first question is a question I could go on at lengths about.  What I will say is this:  I vehemently support Trump because he vehemently opposes the forces of Wokeness in America.  I consider Wokeness to be a scourge on the Republic and an affront to what you and I would consider to be liberal principles.  

The lawful citizen over the illegal alien.  Free Speech vs Punishing Thoughtcrime.  Equal application of law vs. non-prosecution of BLM/Antifa and violations of the 8th Amendment for J6ers.  Support for Israel vs. Jew Hating disguised as "anti-Zionism".  Merit-based equality vs. group-identity based equity.  Constitutional Liberties vs. the Tyrrany of the Majority (however narrow).  These are just some of the dichotomies I could use to illustrate the divide between what I view as good and right and what I view as an evil and corroding thread that would dissolve the Nation we know and reform it into a Leftist Dystopia I (and, hopefully, yourself) would never choose to live in, but might be stuck with.

These are the choices right now.  They are clear and stark. On all of those, Trump is on the right side.  On all of those, Joe Biden and the present group of Democrats are on the side of New Dystopia.

If the choice is Trump or the Democrats, I will stand with Trump.  I will select Trump in the ballot box.  I will advocate him when I engage in political discussions.  I will do so because I wish to stop the onslaught of Wokeness that will result in the loss of individual liberty and the imposition of the kind of group identity-based politics that is the stuff of failed states.  It's a time for choosing, and in my mind, the choice on who is right and who is wrong on these issues is clear.  I didn't see the World in such dichotomous terms in 2016 and I would like to see a day when I don't see it in these terms because my actual issue positions are not the standard set of either party.  

I hope this makes some sense.  I don't support Trump blindly.  He's not my God (no matter what John Dule may say in his anti-religious ignorance) and I'm not sure how I feel about 2024 because I want the IDEAS of Trump (as opposed to the ideas that are operative in government right now) to be advanced (if I have to choose between 2 sets of ideas).  But I am watching my Country go mad, and it's going mad from the Left.  There is nothing "liberal" about our present government, but there is a lot that is authoritarian, and that's being kind.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Why do you never owned up to 2020 not being stolen when you spent most of November and December saying you would if the Courts said everything was legitimate? (which they did)

The Courts did not say this, and you know it.  The Courts dodged any number of Constitutional questions, such as the changes made outside the legislative processes. 

To be sure, this isn't the only rigged election.  Think it doesn't go on regularly?  In 1974 in the very county YOU live in, a State Senate seat was stolen from the Democrats.  Our candidate was up 200-something votes and ended up (2 weeks later) losing by 1,012 votes.  Like magic.  Now the candidate did something to anger his Party Chair after the election, so . . . things happen.  And I know it happened.  I was involved in partisan politics during those years and over the years I heard the tale of how it happened.  That was the START of my political involvement; what changed to ensure that these things don't happen?

In 1976 a Liberal Party candidate got on the ballot to siphon votes from our candidate.  We obtained affidavits from signatories stating that the signatures were fraudulent.  There was sufficient fraud to invalidate the petitions, but the Courts did not do so.  (This "Liberal" party member had a government job in a Republican municipality; his REAL job was to be a 3rd party siphon regularly.)

That doesn't even take into account the news blackouts of relevant news stories such as Tony Bobulinski's account of Joe Biden's and Hunter Biden's business relationships with foreign countries.  That's just one example.  That story would have been a regular item in the MSM news, as was, without any more than what was presented on Tucker Carlson.  This represented contributions in kind by big tech, but, hey, no big deal.

No, the election was not conducted fairly.  No, courts did not rule on a number of relevant questions.  Yes, you are either lying or misinformed when you say that the Courts rules on all these issues. 

[Fuzzy Bear]

Do you plan to vote for or against Rubio and DeSantis in 2022, and do you plan to vote for or against Scott in 2024?

If the election were held today, I would vote for Rubio (whom I voted for in 1976) and DeSantis.

I will never vote for Rick Scott in a primary.  I do not want to have to vote for him.  I would only vote for him if I were convinced that he would be the necessary vote to obtain/maintain a Republican majority in the Senate, particularly if it looks like Biden will be reelected.  If he is the nominee I hope to support a third party candidate.  But Rick Scott being reelected, IMO, is less worse than a continuation of the kind of policies that Joe Biden has wrought.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Why do you ignore fact-checks of your posts from other posters when they show facts that don't align with your "beliefs"?

Because (A) I work a full-time job, (B) I work a part-time job, (C) some of these "fact checks" are as bogus as the trash on Facebook, and (D) being confronted with their own falsehoods doesn't bring any of your group of posters to say, "Wow, Fuzzy's right here!". 

[Fuzzy Bear]

What did you think of the Vietnam War when you were a Teenager, considering you were within the age bracket where you could potentially have been drafted had the War not ended sooner.

I would imagine you likely had older relatives and family friends who did serve in Vietnam and most likely you were following this relatively closely even when you were 14.

I was not old enough for Vietnam.  I was 16 the day the Paris Peace Accords were signed.  Nonetheless, the Vietnam War was, for people my age, in the background, and the idea that the war would continue until we, too, could become cannon fodder was not out of the question until, really, 1972 or so when the draft was ended.

As a teenager, I was against the war.  I was appalled by events such as My Lai, and seeing reports of 1,000 casualties per week made people fearful.  I was for McGovern because (A) I was a 15 year old Democratic partisan, (B) he was "liberal" and (C) he'd do the one thing I cared about and the rest I wasn't sure of.  I was a peacenik; I had long hair, John Lennon coke bottle glasses, a peace sign headband, and a McGovern t-shirt. 

But there were other issues.

I remember a conversation between my stepdad and our neighbor, where our neighbor, very calmly, was saying about bombing the dykes in North Vietnam:  "This is WAR.  If bombing the dykes is what is going to help us win, we SHOULD be doing that."  This made sense to me.  I wouldn't play tackle football with one hand behind my back, why would we not do the same in war.

A friend of mine had an older brother who was a POW in North Vietnam from at least 1967; he was one of the longest serving POWs.  His parents were staunch supporters of Nixon's reelection; they believed McGovern would abandon POWs if he were reelected.  I never discussed the issue with him or his family, but in my mind, I noted that McGovern said he wouldn't abandon the POWs.

Soon after the Paris accords, I spoke with a Spanish teacher of mine, who stated he only voted twice; for JFK in 1960 (he was Catholic) and for Nixon in 1972.  We talked about the war, and he made the reasonable statement that in the middle of a war, we couldn't just say, "Hey, enemy!  We quit!" and expect that all will go smoothly.  That is what happened in Afghanistan just now, and while I did not support the kind of involvement we had in Afghanistan, the withdrawal did not have to go as it did.

I didn't have a problem with War Protesters who were protesting lawfully.  What revulsed me was War Protesters accosting returning servicemen, calling them War Criminals, literally spitting on them.  This was unconscionable; these young men were their fellow countrymen.  In some cases, they were their neighbors.  Many did not want to go, but did so for the same reason young men signed up for WWII and Korea.  Every time I see a Vietnam Vet damaged by war who's a Far Right Winger, I think about the homecoming this man got when he came back to the states in the 1970s.  Some of these folks are creations of the Sick Left, people who can't apportion blame correctly to save their own lives.

The draft ended in 1973.  I did, however, have to register and I was given an old-fashioned draft card.

[Hindsight was 2020]

How is Trump and his team filing lawsuits claiming election fraud and it being dismissed at ever court level for being “frivolous" and "without merit” not the courts saying the election was legitimate? https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-cries-election-fraud-in-court-his-lawyers-dont-11605271267
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-and-allies-launch-new-efforts-to-overturn-biden-victory-in-key-states-20201122-p56gry.html
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/11/19/hls-trump-election-lawsuits/
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/04/donald-trump-in-court-443010
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/supreme-court-rejects-texas-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-election-wins-in-4-key-states.html

[Fuzzy Bear]

How is Trump and his team filing lawsuits claiming election fraud and it being dismissed at ever court level for being “frivolous" and "without merit” not the courts saying the election was legitimate? https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-cries-election-fraud-in-court-his-lawyers-dont-11605271267
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-and-allies-launch-new-efforts-to-overturn-biden-victory-in-key-states-20201122-p56gry.html
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/11/19/hls-trump-election-lawsuits/
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/04/donald-trump-in-court-443010
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/supreme-court-rejects-texas-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-election-wins-in-4-key-states.html

I know you wish for me to gag on you various helpings of Word Salad.

The Pennsylvania case was decided by a Democratic Judge.  If people like you advocated for Trump to not appoint Barrett for the political reasons given, then there is no logical reason to not think that this Democratic appointee wasn't a political hack with a robe.  The Constitution questions as to whether the changes to procedure NOT implemented by the state legislatures:

Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

In Pennsylvania, changes to election law need not only to be ratified by the Legislature, but by amending the State Constitution as well.  These Article 1 issues of Election Law apply in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, to say the least.  This decision should have been decided, once and for all, by the Supreme Court which, wrongly (IMO) refused to hear the case.  That act was one of cowardice.  I recognize that the SCOTUS is always concerned about its image because they have conern as to whether or not their orders will be obeyed and enforced, but this was not the time to punt.

THAT question is the FIRST question that can still be decided.  Can rules on how and where we vote be altered by bureaucrats without legislative authority?  It's not about overturning the election at this point, but it iS (for me, anyway) about deciding who decides when and how we vote in Federal Elections.
 

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What TV shows did you watch as a kid?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Do you regret supporting Obama, knowing he (along with Covid) gave rise to Biden? I am lower on Obama and higher on Biden than you are, just wondering your take.

I'm not a "movement conservative".  My politics is one of social conservatism, economic liberalism.  I would have fit in well as a pro-life liberal in the 1970s.

Obama, the President, was OK, and better than Mitt Romney would have been.  Romney was/is an elitist dweeb and a user of people.  I remember my shock at Romney trashing Trump in 2016.  Didn't Trump come down to endorse Romney very enthusiastically?  Romney's trashing of Trump made me wonder why he accepted the endorsement of a "fraud", "carnival barker" etc.?  If I were running for President I wouldn't take the endorsement and money of someone who (A) might run in 4 years who (B) I could not support, period.

The tragedy of the Obamas is that, Post-Presidency, they have allowed their racially-based resentments of White People to show.  One could say that some of the more ungracious responses to Obama while he was President contributed to this, but I believe that Obama (and, even more so, Mrs. Obama) have always felt this way, and now they feel free to let it show somewhat.  They casually deny and/or excuse the racially based hatred toward white Americans of BLM and similar groups, which is not what I would expect of a Former President, but there are far too many I could take to task on that.  And while Obama certainly received a significant degree of ungracious responses to his initiatives, he has turned his back on millions of Americans who watched people riot in their cities, destroy businesses, inflict injury (and even death) on others, encouraging the rioting, denying the violent crimes of many of the demonstrators, and refusing to be honest about cases where the use of force was, indeed, justified.  At no time has Barack Obama functioned as a "healer" in his post-Presidency.  Indeed, he's made the division worse.  

Perhaps I should have been realistic about Obama.  A man who forsook lucrative offers to begin his career as a Community Organizer in the Saul Alinsky tradition.  A man who (along with his wife) attended Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years, abandoning him when Wright preached the "God Damn America!" sermon and Obama indicated that he was unaware that Wright was preaching this type of sermon.  A man who has a relationship with Bill Ayers, a REAL insurrectionist, and not the Poser Wannabe J6ers (who, nonetheless, should be prosecuted for their crimes in the way that BLM criminals aren't being prosecuted).  In Obama, I have come to believe we have had as our President an honest-to-goodness social radical who was disciplined enough to not go too far while in office to let it be known what he actually was/is.  I have not always believed this, and I have resisted believing this, but this is what Obama is revealing about himself.  (In truth, I believe he'd take my assessment as a compliment.)

Our President should be a President of all the people.  What that means is that our President should always be open to the idea that the grievances of those he/she disagrees with and/or do not support him/her can have merit and should be considered.  Obama, the former President, is closed off to that concept.  This is relevant to the degree that the allegations that he's the "shadow President" who's actually calling the shots.  Donald Trump was far more receptive to the grievances of Blacks (especially on the issue of mass incarceration) than Obama would be as to those he economically displaced in WV (for example).  

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Did you go to college/university? What did you study and how did it influence your views?

[Hindsight was 2020]

How is Trump and his team filing lawsuits claiming election fraud and it being dismissed at ever court level for being “frivolous" and "without merit” not the courts saying the election was legitimate? https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-cries-election-fraud-in-court-his-lawyers-dont-11605271267
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-and-allies-launch-new-efforts-to-overturn-biden-victory-in-key-states-20201122-p56gry.html
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/11/19/hls-trump-election-lawsuits/
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/04/donald-trump-in-court-443010
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/supreme-court-rejects-texas-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-election-wins-in-4-key-states.html

I know you wish for me to gag on you various helpings of Word Salad.

The Pennsylvania case was decided by a Democratic Judge.  If people like you advocated for Trump to not appoint Barrett for the political reasons given, then there is no logical reason to not think that this Democratic appointee wasn't a political hack with a robe.  The Constitution questions as to whether the changes to procedure NOT implemented by the state legislatures:

Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

In Pennsylvania, changes to election law need not only to be ratified by the Legislature, but by amending the State Constitution as well.  These Article 1 issues of Election Law apply in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, to say the least.  This decision should have been decided, once and for all, by the Supreme Court which, wrongly (IMO) refused to hear the case.  That act was one of cowardice.  I recognize that the SCOTUS is always concerned about its image because they have conern as to whether or not their orders will be obeyed and enforced, but this was not the time to punt.

THAT question is the FIRST question that can still be decided.  Can rules on how and where we vote be altered by bureaucrats without legislative authority?  It's not about overturning the election at this point, but it iS (for me, anyway) about deciding who decides when and how we vote in Federal Elections.
 

First and foremost the objection to Barrett was the disgusting cyclical way she was appointed so bringing her up as a way to dismiss the ruling is just a ridiculous distraction. Second you were alleging for months without any proof that there was ballot stuffing and literally fake voting going on so to act like your objection to 2020 was based on you feeling the wrong branch branch of a state government was able to change rules on voting (mind said changes actually made voting easier for everybody so to allege the changes was unfair to Trump is silly but that’s a different issue in if itself) is a gross rewriting of your position on 2020

[Big Abraham]

Not trying to sound insulting here, but why do you use Atlas? I post here because I’m in my early twenties with little to no social life and relatively ample amounts of free time. I would hope neither of those things apply to me if I make it to my sixties.