Also, while it seems beyond doubt that Trump himself is a despicable danger to the republic, it's also true that he has an instinctive street level type of understanding of the American public which surpasses that of his competitors. And that would include most of us here, as evidenced by how eagerly we remain addicted to the reality TV show which Trump is hosting. — Hippyhead

It could be argued that he’s responsible for the condition of the Republican Party today, and that he achieved it in only four years, so how good is his street-smarts? Did he understand his followers well enough to foresee their attack on the capital? Was that part of his genius plan?

He’s a conman and an unprincipled trickster. Tricksters always eventually get caught up in their own net.

If racism is not an opinion - what is it? — counterpunch

A negative bias, and one that is promoted in order to secure a dominant position.

left wing politically correct dogma seeks to control Western civilisation. — counterpunch

Both left and right critique political correctness but it’s not very centrists to claim that it’s a tool of the left to control civilization.

I think he’s proven beyond any shadow of doubt to be a liability to the Republican party, but beyond that I tend to think he’s untouchable.

With 80 million followers and ample funding Trump could easily start his own Twitter-like platform. It is a free country, after all.

The majority is apparently liberal if that’s what you’re trying to say, sans the micro-drama.

I spent the evening glued to the news and was disappointed with the reactionary response to the protest, which not only condemned the violence, but also the spirit. — NOS4A2

The spirit was Trumpers believing the lie that the election was stolen from them and wanting to do something about it. Some violence was preplanned, apparently, and it seems that others just went along with the herd.

All that hogwash about an assault on “the citadel of liberty” and "democracy" was laughable, especially given that for the last 4 years we’ve been taught that violent protest was the surest expression of the voiceless. — NOS4A2

Surest in what sense? Violent protests are typically regarded as the expression of the desperate. I'm not sure that a handful of gullible attention seeking oddballs like horn-guy truly qualify as desperate, at least compared to BLM protesters. They were yelling things like "this is our house," so must have felt some sense of entitlement.

Perhaps if the Trumpers burned down innocent people’s businesses and looted Target the politico-media class would paint a different picture. — NOS4A2

Of course, I would imagine that they'd be ridiculed as hypocrites and not accused of being insurrectionists at all.

Young politicians who are interested in the legacy of Trump:

And secondly, the polarization will thrive, even without Trump. Nothing will change that. — ssu

Hasn't Trumpism or cult-politics proven to be a failed strategy to maintain power? The Republican Party lost the White House and the majority in both chambers of Congress in only 4 years. People like Howley and Cruz may be power-hungry but they're not cult leaders who can spin a web of fantasies and lies that can capture Trump supporter's apparent appetite for faith-based leadership.

Yeah, no, his only value is entertainment.

Had she been attacking him, perhaps. But she wasn’t. The shooter was under no threat. — NOS4A2

Hey, you're sounding like a BLM supporter. :up:

Trump supporters say that antifa members disguised as one of them infiltrated the protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

Reminds me of The Walking Dead, a show about a zombie apocalypse. In one episode there's a group of survivors who call themselves the 'whisperers'. They disguise themselves as zombies, infiltrate the herd, and subtly guide them to wherever they want, usually to attack a rival group of survivors.

I imagine that any group that worships Trump could be easily mislead. You might only need some shiny object or perhaps some deep-fried tweekies to lure them around.

The woman then tried to jump through the window, unarmed, and she was executed before she could make it through. — NOS4A2

If I recall correctly, you've said that unarmed BLM rioters shot in the street were killed in self-defense, but when an unarmed rioter is shot storming the nation's capital you say that they were executed. Is your view based on white privilege?

Glad I could help. :victory:

You didn’t get any impression of rioting?

Amazing to think that the left being full of people calling cops pigs might make some cops unhappy with the left. — Garth

Well, in his political career Biden, for instance, has supported much of the ‘law & order’ politics and adversarial culture of law enforcement. No reason to be unhappy when their funding grows, accountability weakens, and are generally empowered regardless of which party holds the reigns.

I don't even know what NOS stands for. — Garth

Putin gives all his trolls cute pet names. NOS in Russian means ‘small droopy balls’.

I don’t know why these people were allowed to get in the capitol building, or why they bothered to do so. — NOS4A2

Trump’s zombie hordes didn’t have the attention span for the boring political theatre that Ted Cruz and the other power-grubbing congressmen had planned for today so they spiced things up a bit. They made their own symbolic gesture, one befitting the lame duck prez.

So far, at least one congressmen has withdrawn their opposition to the electoral count and confirming Biden, as a result of the riot.

So this Baden guy is actually an admin on this site and all he does is insult people who have different views than him? Starting to wonder if I've wasted my time here. — Garth

He has an Irish temper.

@frank

↪frank

You make an odd comment that sounds smart to you but doesn't to someone else and then get frustrated at the reaction (also, the you're not an American so you can't talk about America thing).

You’re Canadian?

Now would probably be a good time for Trump to concede, but yeah, it’s Trump.

It IS absolutely insane to believe that Biden got more votes than Hillary and Obama even though he came in last place when he ran against them in the primary back in 2008? — Harry Hindu

Is 80 million votes against Trump really that hard to believe? He worked very hard for over 4 years to demonize half the country, after all.

The notoriously violent leftists didn’t need to be teargassed on January 6, 2017.

Not official, the scoundrels are still toying with the election, for shits and giggles I guess.

Big Brother sanctioned good times, of course.

Not a good day for the poor Trumpsta’s, with the final nail in the Trump presidency coffin and losing the majority in the senate. Soon their lives will be taken over by the radical left who’ll force them to renounce their religion, remove all windows from their homes, and drink organic tea with soy milk.

People can be just as rude. In fact I’ve disabled chat in the app that I use because people are too often that way online.

Religious faith, to me, has not disappeared, but been has recast towards other orthodoxies such as social justice, intersectionality and critical race theory. — NOS4A2

Groups with common values can form strong bonds and a sense of identity pursuing meaningful goals, that’s what effective branding is all about. The framework is basically the same as religion but with significant differences. Religion is necessarily hierarchical with an ultimate authority at top who has special access to metaphysics of some kind. In this way Trumpism is more religious in nature than the groups you mention because Trump is the top authority who dictates what the “alternative facts” are. There’s no single authority figure in the groups you mention, and though extremists may exist in any group, these groups may claim to value reason.

I also believe that the nascent demand for moral leadership from our politicians is one aspect of that. — NOS4A2

What kind of fool doesn’t want their leadership to share their values, principles, and interests?

If you name your calculator George and program it to have a happy go lucky personality and to ask you about your day, it's worth as a calculator will still only be measured by how well it adds and subtracts. — Hanover

That's not entirely true, because we're not entirely rational beings. Studies show that the devices we use, such as calculators, are typically judged to function better if they're aesthetically appealing, even if they don't actually function better than less aesthetically appealing devices.

In chess, a particular programmed pattern or style of play may throw off a human player for some reason without it actually being a more powerful or deep thinking program.

He’s their folk devil, and they exhibit the religious fervor of a moral panic. — NOS4A2

Have you watched any of the 'stop the steal' protests? The speakers, before indicating where supporters can donate money to the cause, literally do their best to inspire religious fervor in their audience, with countless appeals to God in the fight against evil. Frankly, it's surprising that it's not more effective. I suppose this demonstrates how religious faith is in decline, or rather that it's really about tribalism and not actual faith for many.

The phone conversation between Trump and the Georgia secretary of state is yet more evidence that Trump doesn't need to be demonized. His character and selfish motivations are painfully apparent.

Actually I think that it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that chess software can more or less simulate emotion. In my recently updated chess.con app, for example, they’ve added ‘personalities’ to the computer matches. Some of them are more aggressive than others or display varying combination (see list of aesthetic factors in my previous post) styles.

I don't see much evidence for "widespread voter fraud", a phrase commonly uttered in the gutter-press. But I understand Trump's paranoia. Entire institutions, even within his own government, have been weaponized against him. So I wouldn't mind seeing an audit of some sort. — NOS4A2

There’ll be insignificant instances of fraud in any election, just like there is petty theft, despite it being illegal. Only “widespread voter fraud” is significant enough to shift an election and I assume that’s the reason for the phrasing.

So you love Trumps paranoia? If it is paranoia then it is incurable. We both know that any audit that didn’t go his way would be defamed as fraudulent.

And it’s not his government, it’s our government. Many Americans love democracy because we understand its potential benefits. You seem to love something else, like autocracy I guess.

I have to admit that some defenses, for example, simply "look" or "feel" good to me. e.g. the Dutch Defense, though it weakens the king side. — Ciceronianus the White

In the wiki article on chess aesthetics that I just looked up I guess the specific aesthetic factor in the Dutch Defense would be paradox, the range of things that violate 'good practice' in chess, for example, the deliberate exposure of one's king.

All the factors:

• Expediency refers to a move's effectiveness in achieving something tangible, like checkmate or a decisive material gain.
• Disguise occurs when a move played (usually the key move) does not expose the solution immediately.
• Sacrifice refers to the exchange of a more powerful piece for a weaker one, but can also mean the exchange of other less tangible advantages, like mobility.
• Correctness simply means the solution should work against any defense. (A plus but not always possible in real games.)
• Preparation means that the aesthetic perceived—say, in a particular tactical combination—was achieved in great part due to the strategic play preceding it.[8]
• Paradox refers to the range of things that violate 'good practice' in chess, for example, the deliberate exposure of one's king.
• Unity refers to the cooperation between pieces toward the attainment of a specific goal (e.g. checkmate, winning material, controlling more space).
• Originality means something the observer has not seen before, and must therefore rely heavily on personal experience.

A far more adept politician would buckle under the public pressure, but instead Trump is doing right by his constituents, most of whom believe Biden is illegitimate and voter fraud affected the outcome. That’s why I love it. — NOS4A2

This seems to imply that you believe there was organized widespread voter fraud because if this were simply another one of his cons it wouldn't necessarily serve his constituent's interests. If that's the case, I'm curious about something. I know there's tons of "evidence" supporting the fraud conspiracy, but why have no conspirators been exposed? Who orchestrated the fraud? Isn't it odd that in two months no culprits have been discovered?

Even the Muller investigation turned up some bad apples and prosecuted them.

It's about sight and pattern recognition, not rationality. — BitconnectCarlos

Indeed, some can play dozens of blind chess games simultaneously.

I recall reading somewhere that aesthetics used to the fashion in chess at some point in history, don't recall what era.

I never said I love “illegal activity”. This is why we get strange conclusions from false premises, or in this case, lies. — NOS4A2

You wrote:

Perfect Trumpian phone call. I love it. — NOS4A2

Whether or not the activity is illegal you express love for this sort of activity. In other words, you love it when a president appears to uses their power to pressure a secretary of state to commit voter fraud. Good people don't love such things. Or perhaps you love it when Trump begs like a whiny dog?

"Apparently engaging in illegal activity". For what, exactly? — NOS4A2

The point isn’t to try convincing you of illegal activity, the point is that you “love” such activity, and that a person who loves this sort of activity is not a good person.

I thought that my stoic journal would be a pain but the first entry last night (program recommends starting a new weekly practice on Sundays) was a breeze because I found while sitting on the couch that I can simply dictate entires on an iPad or iPhone to a cloud document. I hadn’t realized that the iOS dictation software works so well now.

You've called me evil, a liar, a bad man,... — NOS4A2

You’re a proven liar and just wrote “I love it” in response to evidence of the president apparently engaging in illegal activity. Whatever constitutes a “bad man,” you must certainly be in the ballpark.

... and have compared me to almost every animal in a menagerie. What does that make you? — NOS4A2

A comparative zoologist? :chin:

More of the same? When was the last time you’ve heard an audio recording of an American president criminality threaten a Secretary of State to “find” 11, 780 votes?

We strongly suggest doing the planned activity no more than 3 days a week. — Athena

Thinking it through this morning I came to the same plan, or rather rate, of action. I've resolved to practice stoicism this year and the program that I've adopted calls for daily journaling. Seriously doubt that I could keep that up so have decided that a few entries a week for the weekly practices would be doable.

Good luck with your remains care, Athena.

Best of luck with the tidying up, Jack.

Dream killer.