stephaniezy @stephmelodic

@BeardedBenPA And the media just runs with it!

@BeardedBenPA That's because some of us are reasonable, principled thinkers who don't drink the "kool-aid" of the minions of either side.

@BeardedBenPA Why vote republican? There has to be something better.

@BeardedBenPA Agree. I would also add only a fools believe our own government! Propaganda runs deep!!!

As always I only support military action anywhere, in any context, if it directly serves the interests of American citizens. It’s troubling that the arguments we’re hearing for this war in Iran, including from Trump himself, seem to revolve primarily around “bringing freedom to the Iranian people.” As Americans, the freedom of Iranians is not our responsibility. If a single American life is lost in the service of that goal, it will be a travesty. What nobody has even come close to sufficiently explaining is how this war will first and foremost directly benefit American citizens. That is a case that needed to have been made clearly and convincingly before this move, and it wasn’t. We’re also told how this will benefit Israel, and I’m sure it will. But Israel is not America. What does it do for America? How does it help us? That needs to be explained to us. And it isn’t “panicking” or demonstrating “disloyalty” to demand those very basic answers about how American tax money, and potentially American lives, are being spent. We hear about the danger of a nuclear Iran, but that’s odd because we were told that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had already been set back decades. We hear that this war will be over quickly and easily because Iran is powerless, which I hope and pray is the case, and maybe it will be. But that’s odd, too, because if Iran is such a paper tiger then how were they a danger to us in the first place? It seems hard to argue both that Iran is an existential threat to the United States and that we can topple them in 20 minutes with no casualties or negative downstream effects. Also the political calculation really matters here. A huge majority of American oppose this. That’s just a fact. If it costs Republicans in 26 and 28, then, no matter how things work out in Iran, it will not have been worth it. A free Iran at the cost of Democrat rule here at home is a bad deal. A free Iran for an unfree America would be just about the worst trade of the century. I’m praying for our great country today.

HOLY CRAP: Michael Knowles just said he does NOT identiy as a "Christian Zionist" and that the Church is the new spiritual Israel under the New Covenant. "I don't think the Jews are entitled to the Holy Land because of some religious premise." Michael says Zionism makes historical and religious claims that he does not believe are true. He also argues that just because Jews had the land 2,000 years ago that it doesn't mean they're entitled to it today. It's incredible to see mainstream Right-Wingers finally sharing their position on Israel. The world is waking up.

It’s a time for choosing in the conservative movement. If you believe boys should compete with girls in girls’ sports, you have no place in this movement. If you believe in racial quotas, you have no place in this movement. If you believe in normalizing hate towards whites, blacks, Indians, or Jews, you have no place in this movement. If you believe Hitler was cool, you have no place in this movement. If you believe Stalin should be admired, you have no place in this movement. If you call Usha Vance a “jeet,” you have no place in this movement. And if you don’t have the guts to say these things without stuttering, then you have no place as a leader in this movement.

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Rothmus 🏴 @Rothmus

10 months ago

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@oelma__ Never

It is quite obvious that most of the "MAGA" voters who voted in the last presidential election are not truly MAGA, but are Trump fans instead of following an ideology. To make America great needs to be a ground up philosophy. We need to actually get behind unifying ideology.

“The past 3 days, I’ve been sitting around listening to Charlie Kirk’s message… you guys need to be ashamed of yourself to listen to the lies that this man is pushing some racist rhetoric.” “I heard him say some of the most uplifting things about black people.” THIS!! 🔥👇🏼

As a Black man, it hurts my soul to see people call Charlie Kirk a racist. I knew him personally and I can tell you, he was nothing but kind to me. Charlie never looked at me as a color, he looked at me as a friend, as a brother. He went out of his way to help me, to open doors for me, to make sure I had opportunities I didn’t even ask for. That’s who he was, just generous, thoughtful, and loyal. To hear people smear his name with lies is painful, because I knew the real Charlie. He wasn’t about division, he was about lifting people up, no matter where they came from or what they looked like. And honestly, this all still feels unreal. I still cry, It’s hard to accept that he’s gone. A man who gave so much, who inspired so many, taken from us too soon. Charlie Kirk was more than a leader , he was a husband, father , friend to many of us and a true American patriot.

Cardinal Dolan says he spent the past week studying Charlie Kirk’s life, and the more he learned, the more he saw him as a modern-day Saint Paul. A fearless missionary, a passionate evangelist, and a true hero. “When I heard the tragic news, I said, ‘I wonder who he was.’ And then all of a sudden, this overwhelming, this overwhelming sense of sorrow and kind of renewal.” “And I thought, I gotta learn about this guy. And the more I learned about him, I thought, this guy's a modern day Saint Paul. He was a missionary, he's an evangelist, he's a hero.” “He's one that knew what Jesus meant when he said, the truth will set you free. And to do it, Now, I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn't try to avoid any controversy. He didn't even try to avoid confrontation. The difference is the way, the mode, the style that he did it, always with respect.”

New — John Fetterman tells Ds: — Not to call Trump an autocrat — Don’t dig in to force govt shutdown — Accept Trump’s help on crime — Defend Israel (even the Doha strikes, which Trump distanced himself from) - Says Mamdani doesn’t reflect party “Clearly we've lost the argument”

I never paid much attention to Charlie Kirk, he seemed very America focused & I am not American, & I find the "OWNED! DESTROYED!" type video titles really off-putting. I'd completely missed that he interviewed Kara Dansky & Richie Herron, a radical feminist & a gay man I admire. Now, since his murder, I see lots of people saying he was racist, homophobic, a misogynist, & a fascist...but these seem to be people who never knew him personally, sometimes sharing tiny clips with no context. When I look around I see: Black people saying he treated them well, is this what a racist does? Same sex attracted people saying he treated them well, is this what a homophobe does? Women, with various political beliefs, saying he treated them well, is this what a misogynist does? Am I supposed to believe that all of this was acting? A ruse? A clever masterplan, hiding his true evil bigoted face, & all these people have fallen for it? Because that seems not only far-fetched & paranoid but rather condescending, infantilising, an act of removing agency from people of the marginalised groups you fetishise because they do not agree with you...one might say racist, homophobic, & misogynistic. The other thing I see are videos of Charlie Kirk himself, again & again saying we have to talk to each other, respectfully, despite our differences, otherwise we foster a culture which will lead to violence...is this what a fascist does? Because I do not think so, I think the fascists are the ones who kill their political opponents to stop them having a voice.

Charlie Kirk was not a racist and I will not sit back and allow people to spread that lie I gave Charlie Kirk his flowers last year and thanked him for helping 100s of young black people get an invite to the White House back in 2019 He helped pay for most of their flights and hotels because it cost so much to travel and he didn’t want them to miss out He have gave them an experience & opportunity of a lifetime and yes he helped me get an invite as well. I’m going to miss him so much! ❤️

I didn't really know anything about Charlie Kirk Until this week Kirk was a name and face I would occasionally see someone retweet on here and I would scroll past. I'd seen 2 or 3 short videos taken from Tiktok of him debating some low IQ college student but that was it. I'm generally not interested in MAGA. I broadly believe in many of their goals, but find much of the rhetoric and policy implementation to be self defeating. To me Kirk was another Ben Shapiro or Tim Pool. All MAGA, all the time. Immediately following his shooting my shock was political and societal. Another step down in what seems to be the never ending descent of American, and thus Western, society. Another sad day for free speech, no matter what you thought of the man's politics. Then in the following hours my timeline was filled with videos of Kirk as a father, and my heart broke. I saw a man that was clearly devoted to his family and who loved them, and was loved in return, a great deal. I felt that love forever torn apart. I saw a daughter that would never run to her father and wrap her arms around him again. The following day I saw more videos on here, and out of respect and curiosity I watched them all. Maybe they would make some sense of why someone felt the need to end this man's life and rob his children of a father. They did not. Contrary to the tweets spreading through X as some kind of justification, what I found was a man who was deeply religious. I man that had a true belief system, and not one that he bent or shaped to fit to modern society. For example. he absolutely believed that homosexuality was a sin because that was what the bible told him, but he did not hate or think less of those people. Many of his close friends such as Peter Thiel and David Rubin were gay. What I see when I watch the videos of Kirk is a fan of deep faith who put that faith above everything else. I see a man who treated everyone with compassion and civility. I see a man that was friendly and open and honest. Honestly, I see a man that is braver and better than I. Not because he put himself in danger by wanted to talk to people, but by handing himself completely over to a belief system that I've never been able to get my head around. Like many of us, the idea is alien to me. I can't say I don't watch his videos with a tinge of jealousy. What I see is a man who was completely happy. A man confident in his faith and who led his life accordingly. A man who not just believed, but acted on his belief. At a time when so many people seem empty and depressed, it's hard not to be a little jealous of a person that seemed so fulfilled. With this in mind, it's been incensing to see him slandered on here by people without any of the faith and none of the commitment. To see people take the man's faith and turn it into something twisted and hateful. I knew nothing of the man in life, but I will try to listen to him more in death.

It's time to confront the reality that programming children with anti-human, anti-American, and anti-civilization ideologies is increasing the prevalence of traits characteristic of anti-social personality disorder, e.g., lack of empathy, aggression, and impulsivity.

Michael Shellenberger @shellenberger

a year ago

The share of college students who say "Using violence to stop a campus speech" is acceptable rose from under 20% to 34% btwn 2020-2025. Students "furthest to the left have been the most accepting of violence for as long as we’ve asked the question." Time to de-radicalize schools

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If you believe free speech is for you but not your political opponents, you're illiberal. If no contrary evidence could change your beliefs, you're a fundamentalist. If you believe the state should punish those with contrary views, you're a totalitarian. If you believe political opponents should be punished with violence or death, you're a terrorist.