stevestojan

Drove through LA on my way back from a funeral yesterday. If you zoom out from the three pictures of the “hellscape” you keep seeing on the news, I can assure you, the only thing attacking LA at present is sunshine and horrific traffic (see: a normal Friday). Both sides of the media are posting a handful of zoomed in (literally and figuratively) photos to show the “libs torching cars” and the military “attacking” said “libs.” Get off your couch and the internet for a while folks. The country is not burning.

Only tangentially related, an I the only one who loathes parades in general? Parades of all sorts block streets, if you’re odd enough to actually attend one, you’re forced to stand shoulder to shoulder with the general public with varying levels of personal hygiene, and there’s never a good place or enough places to take a leak. All for the chance to see a bunch of people stroll by for 90 seconds while you hope to get a chance to stare at them, assuming no one is blocking your view. If I were the type to believe in something like Hell, the Macys Thanksgiving day parade in perpetuity would be up there with my best possible description. Now get off my lawn so I can yell at a cloud in the sky in peace.

How did China sneak its way into this thread?

Here we go… Just awful all around. We’ll wake up to a body count in the hundreds if not thousands. Sad.

I never took a cheap shot at Trump in this thread (I will say that Ben has a far better command of the English language than Donnie, which is impressive for a man whose native tongue is Hebrew). Funny how he talks about the weapons Iran dropped on Israel. Yet he 100x hit Palestine after their attack, killing children and other innocents then goes on to quote the Bible…. That’s my biggest issue with Ben. At what point are they “even?” He’s no choir boy. His delivery is smooth. He’s doing this to “save” Iranians. But he did this after Trump specifically asked him not to. Americans will die because of today’s actions. And of course thousands of his own people. And there’s zero chance he would have done this without knowing the US had his back. He can save the Bible quotes. It’s silly. All that to say, this entire thing sucks, and he has likely dragged the US into yet another conflict to save the “helpless.” He’s a tyrant. Zero doubt about that. He’s a far better orator than most. But don’t let this rhetoric make you think this was a good move. Our president doesn’t think so.

I’d say it’s like 40% run of the mill mental illness, 50% just being an #######, and 10% being the Burfict hit that was the straw the smoothed the camel’s brain.

Damn. Down 738 as of 7:49 PT. This is awful for everyone. But again, we have unwavering support for Israel simply because they’re surrounded by bad countries? Since when did that matter to anyone - and certainly not Trump; not saying this is his fault. Just saying maybe it’s time to rethink our friend group as a country. Let’s see how many of those precision strikes they pull off without US weapons and $. Doesn’t take a genius to see how Iran blames the US for fortifying Israel like this and some whacko extremist hits something here at home. And let’s stop looking at Israel like some group of choir boys. The response to Palestine’s attack was justified; at first. But at what point does Palestine cry uncle loud enough? Disproportionate by a factor of 100? Again, let’s America First this thing and stop supporting Israel. It’s time. If you don’t support Ukraine, why do you support Israel?

At what point does Trump tell Netanyahu to cut the sh.t or we’ll do exactly that?

So…. How long do we stay in the toxic relationship with our boy Ben? At some point many relationships come to an end and I’m just not seeing what we’re getting in return from Israel that’s making us want to continue to be his ally. I’m not saying we go steady with Palestine. I’m saying we “America First” this situation and realize Netanyahu isn’t doing us any favors and get the ***** out altogether. He’s become the obnoxious drunken girlfriend who slaps the 6’6” 280lb guy at a bar and only does so because her boyfriend is bigger.

You can pen it in. And I wasn’t saying the right was going to kill anyone. I didn’t say the left would. But tensions are so high, some moron, on some side, will start something and violence will ensue. We’re sitting on a tinder box right now. And Drumpf saying he will arrest protesters (without that caveat of them being violent protesters; ya know, going against that pesky 1st amendment) isn’t helping. But there will be violence by either protesters or counter-protesters because people can’t ***** behave themselves. It’s a 💩 show. The whole thing. EDIT: crap. I forgot I waited until 45 to have a kid and have a toddler to pay for things for. I was going to say “how about $250” then I thought how morbid is that to “bet” on. So since I opened my fat mouth, tell me your preferred military related charity and I’ll donate anyway, in your name if you want to PM me it, and send receipt. To be 10000% clear, my comment was - and never will be - anti-military. It was more a commentary on the current state of the country.

The sad truth is that there will be protests and they will lead to violence, and at least once person will die. I’d bet my next paycheck on it. All for a parade.

The titles hyperbole, but you’re OK with active duty marines being used for a domestic issue? Like I said, the national guard is there because that’s their job. But active duty marines? Slippery slope… Curious your thoughts on this one.

The national guard I get. Especially after reports that the LAPD is “completely overwhelmed.” That’s the job of the national guard. But active duty Marines? Yikes… that’s ***** concerning.

In fairness (really to my friends on the other side of the aisle) I haven’t always taken the high road, clearly. But, I’ve have the ability to read through much of the fray and theatrics here, and in doing so have actually learned a thing or two that doesn’t follow the “red is bad, blue is right/righteous.” I still very much believe - as part of my ethics , personality, upbringing, and sensibilities - in the liberal ideals. Call it a bleeding heart, but I do feel as a whole, the democratic party has historically shown more empathy and continues to today. But as with most things, the squeaky wheels get the oil. And the squeaky wheels on the left are so god damned squeaky and emotional that they can’t see the stupidity for the trees. This case in particular is a horribly excellent example of blindly following party lines and a use case to call the right evil for deporting a “poor hardworking man” and then not being able to say “well, crap, we were wrong. This man is human garbage. Good riddance” and then back peddling to say “it’s not this one man; it’s the principle!!” But I will say I do appreciate you and others starting to hold true political discussions and not cherry picking the nutsos on the left from Twitter (of course some the rights squeakiest of course solely rely on the purple haired weirdos to “prove” a point, but I digress). As you all know we can find the example of the maga extremists making your party look equally unhinged. The truth - as always - lies much more in the fact that if we had a beer summit, we’d all agree on much more than we seemingly vehemently disagree with through the anonymity of a keyboard. Not sure if this makes sense. It’s early here, I got up at 4:30a with a toddler going through a sleep regression, and I’m in CA, so I’m sure I have a granola protest to go to later this afternoon.

😘

Jay Riemersma

That’s soooo 2023.

Ah yes. Duh! Thanks 🍻

Curious why domestic abuse isn’t listed on the charges unless it’s because the fearful wife withdrew the claim or statute has passed? Either way, I’m considering just jumping ship and registering independent (well I’m in CA, so NPP). Can’t take the fake outrage over this piece of trash and a laundry list of other things.

Dem* here 🙋🏼‍♂️ Said from day one this wife beater deserves to be under the prison. *sorry, let me clarify: I’m a registered Democrat, have voted Democrat in every election since I was 22 (I’ll admit I didn’t vote in college; too drunk). But according to Homeboy, I’m an undercover MAGA Republican. This post certainly won’t help my cause there. 😂

God Speed. 😂

Yes!

Every single one of them should be investigated. Left, right, center. I don’t know what the Mendoza line is though for “how much is too much” to make, but that’s why I’m not a policymaker.

Only somewhat related, but I can’t speak highly enough about YouTube TV. It’s like $83 a month, has all the “cable” channels you could want, a seemingly unlimited DVR feature, no need to bundle “home phone” like the cable companies still try in 2025, and one small feature that is awesome for me, you can organize the channel list however you want. So my three watch channels are all at the top of the list when I go to the live tv feature. And lastly, if you do tack on NFL Sunday ticket, it doesn’t buffer - ever. When DTV offered ST streaming it was like watching on Netscape Navigator on dial up in 1997.

Afford? No. Buy them anyway and put themselves into crippling credit card debt to watch football? I’d bet my next paycheck on it.