Sen. John McCain's speech at a conference in Munich, Germany a few days ago. I would recommend ignoring the article and just listen to the speech.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... 1b89fdb725

Robert wrote:That may look ridiculous, but I think it is actually a good position, since any liberal attack on growth for the sake of the planet will fail at the point of delivery.

Right, because trying to save the planet shouldn't get in the way of economic growth. Your reasoning has to twist and turn quite extensively to support some of the positions you hold. It might seem like elegant and strong reasoning to you, but you're too close to it to see how wrong you are.

Trump doesn't understand the evidence at all. He acquires evidence from Breitbart, Fox News, and the Drudge Report. In his mind, evidence from these sources is more trustworthy than evidence from the CIA and other government intelligence agencies. He rips on the intelligence agencies whenever they provide information that contradicts with what he heard on Fox news. In the meantime, he honestly believes the left-leaning news stations tell fake news. He doesn't understand the origin of fake news stories, how they spontaneously generate from people making assumptions on facebook and Macedonian teenagers intentionally fabricating lies. Instead, he thinks that any station that criticizes him is fake. It's fucking unbelievable. He's dumb.

Trump does not understand what constitute facts. To him, there's two type of information: things that he likes because he feels it supports him and things he hates because he feels it attacks him. The former is good information and the latter is fake news. Beyond that, Trump has no ability to discern anything further. To him, truth is merely information that he likes which is a trait of acute narcissism.

He is extremely unwise in his decisions to pick fights with the media, the intelligence community, the judiciary, his own party, and ordinary private citizens because it will lead to his downfall. if he has ulterior motives as Robert Tulip seems to think, he's going about it in a VERY risky and unproductive way. The only thing saving him is this unbelievable buoyancy that he has to remain where he is--uncowed, unashamed. He's not the only one who has it--Limbaugh and Coulter also have it--where one can say the craziest, most outrageous shit imaginable and not be run out of the country for it. BUT Limbaugh and Coulter aren't POTUS. And this insanity that people like Tulip and less-educated trailer trash find so endearing is going wear thin soon. Already is. But we are still WAY too apathetic about it and that in itself is frightening.

Part of Trump's appeal to his base is that you two types of followers--the morons who simply love all the nasty, rotten shit he says and find it funny and cool because it's the same stupid, brutish way they think and then you have the Tulips who think (against all evidence) that in spite of it all Trump knows exactly what he's doing and will somehow persevere in the end. That's a YUGE leap of faith and has so far not been borne out by events but it's obvious the Tulips are going to hang onto this delusion like rabid bulldogs and so there is no point to arguing with them about it because, in the end, they are every bit as right wing as the stupid, meth-addicted trailer trash who think the niggers and greasers need to rounded up and shot in a great big pit and bulldozed over and a strip mall built on top of it.

Am I being harsh? Yes, but so what? During his campaign, Trump once issued "evidence" that most whites in America are randomly killed by blacks. Turns out he got this info from a white supremacist website and that it is wrong. Most whites in America are killed by other whites; most blacks are killed by other blacks. This is obvious because most murder victims are killed by someone they knew. Did the fact that this blatantly racist bullshit being endorsed by Trump bother his followers? Not one bit. Not. One. Bit.

To the idiots, Trump reflects their irrational hatreds and disregard for truth and to the Tulips he is a political genius playing a role for some higher purpose--as if he can work righteousness by means of deceit.

Interbane,

Want more bafoonery? Clinton didn't know that "C" stood for confidential:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.theverge ... fied-label

I think that idiocy alone disqualifies you from the presidency.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... /98065338/

Trump is ramping up the rhetoric. Now the newsmedia are "the enemy of the people." Shows his desperation. They won't let go of the Russian story (he made sure of it) and now he's fighting for his life. See, as Shep Smith pointed out, when reporters asked Trump what his people were doing talking to Russia at the very time they were hacking the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign, Trump won't answer them. Were they discussing the hacks? Simple yes or no answer. Instead, we get "Russia is fake news!" "The media are fake news and they're out to get me because I had the biggest electoral vote tally since Ronald Reagan!"

This won't cow the media, it emboldens them. So now Trump is up against a wall. He knows there are transcripts of those discussions and he knows sooner or later a newspaper is going to publish them and then his house of cards topples. So now, all he can do is go after the media with no holds barred. But he has no allies--the media hate him, the intelligence community hates him, the judiciary hates him and at least half of Congress hates him--and it's all his own doing.

So good luck to him thinking that he can make the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC into an enemy of the people. They aren't selling us down the river to the Russians--YOU ARE!!! And before it's over, you're going to find yourself brought up on charges. it's just a matter of time. You're on borrowed time, mister. And you did it to yourself. How does it feel being top dog now?

Right, because trying to save the planet shouldn't get in the way of economic growth

This reminds me of the dystopian novel "Brave New World" where people have been so conditioned by both government and science they're sickened and appalled that anyone could go against either of the two. Government is looked on as the answer to a safe and happy society. Social engineering assures people continue to promote faith in the government's ability to increase happiness, security, and prosperity. People are conditioned to want only what the State wants them to want. In the process, all individuality is gone. People no longer have the ability to think on their own, or want anything for themselves. They've been "saved" as promised.

The reason for the total meltdown of the left and its political activist machines (aka the Media) is because of the shock of experiencing their religion being pulled from under their feet - the State (God) will solve all our troubles, the State (God) will ultimately create a utopian society, the State (God) will save us all in the end.

To go against the political machine has become the equivalent of denouncing a God's righteousness. The response? - social justice crusaders hunting those who disagree with them and branding them as Nazis, Hitler, Deniers, and evil doers who are to be publicly humiliated and demonized as antistate sinners.

These are interesting times we live in.

Notice how this thread is turning into yet another anti-science rant by the Goofball?

My friend is the same way. It seems that no matter what the truth might be, his arguments always land on his party's side. It doesn't matter how dumb Trump acts. Rather than acknowledge Trump's stupidity, the tact is to attack something on the left, like social spending or Hillary or Obama or environmentalism or gun restrictions. As if any of that is the same subject as Trump's stupidity. But the dodge isn't even acknowledged. It's like if enough noise is made about something else, the arguments go away. And if you don't follow along with the changing of subject, then you're the one who's changing the subject, because that makes sense.

I'm increasingly convinced that most right-wing reasoning is that brand of gut-based heuristic void of discipline. As long as you can make convincing appeals, it doesn't matter if they're logically sound. Humans aren't logically sound - we are susceptible to heuristic and emotional reasoning. And that's the brand of reasoning I see from the right. Especially from Trump. He could stand there at the podium and tell a bald-faced lie, and it didn't matter. Because emotional reasoners equate confidence with correctness, so the confidence of an idiot is translated into the correctness of a savant.

We really need to start teaching logic and critical thinking in grade school.

deleted.

Having a Trumpist friend raises interesting problems, doesn't it? My friend who remains a strong Trump supporter appears normal and I have a good time with him as long as the job Trump is doing doesn't come up. When it does, I kind of shake my head, offer my own take, and move on to something neutral, like sports.

The workplace has become interesting, too. I'm in a liberal environment. The supervisor of our group has sometimes felt free to dump on Trump before meetings, while the two Trump people are silent, never bringing up their own politics. I feel a little bad for them and think the atmosphere can become a bit hostile for those in the minority. In Trump-majority workplaces it's probably equally uncomfortable for the anti-Trumpers if politics isn't excluded.