The Real timschochet

Can you give me a specific example of lies or hate speech that I have made or supported?

The California Senate race now looks like it will be Adam Schiff vs Steve Garvey. Schiff is fine with me. I actually preferred Katie Porter, who I’ve met and like, but there’s nothing wrong with Adam Schiff. He has been mercilessly attacked by conservatives for his attacks on Trump. Yet Schiff has been right all along (including about Trump’s ties to Russia). Schiff was amazingly eloquent during the first impeachment trial, and he is a smart and honest politician. I’m happy that he will be our next senator- he should win easily over Garvey, who has tied himself to positions not popular in this state. However- don’t look for me to say one bad word about Steve Garvey. I don’t care about his politics. He is a hero to me and always will he. I was at game 3 in 1981 when he and Ron Cey hit home runs that beat the evil Yankees and began the 4 game winning streak that won the Series. One of my favorite sports moments in my life. Love love Steve Garvey!

I am also still offering even odds on Biden winning the election (though recent polling is obviously worrisome.)

For those like @lickin_starfish and others who assert with confidence that Joe Biden won’t be the Democratic nominee for President in 2024, my offer still stands to all takers: 4-1 odds. Thats better odds than Vegas will give, as @Horseman has pointed out (though for some reason, despite mocking me for offering these odds, he won’t take me up on them.)

I weary of this constant stream of misinformation from you. But: 1. Social media isn’t press, much less free press. 2. I despise lying and false information and hate speech. That said I’m not for restricting it. But I don’t trust it. You’re wrong I oppose regulating it on the internet. You want to go to Stormfront and peddle bigotry, fine with me. 3. The government didn’t suppress the Hunter Biden non-story. I knew about it weeks before the election, so did everyone else who wanted to. Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump complained about it on Fox News. The mainstream media didn’t spend a lot of time on it because it was sleazy nonsense that couldn’t be properly verified. And, though this part doesn’t matter in terms of the supposed “suppression”, I don’t believe it would have changed a single vote. 3. The one part you’re correct about: I don’t have a problem with millions of Americans being censored by Big Tech. Thats because social media is owned by private corporations and can do what they want. The only kind of censorship I care about is that imposed by the government. And here we catch you in a blatant hypocrisy: you want social media to stop censoring conservative voices. But at the same time you don’t want social media regulated. There is no way to accomplish one without the other. You’d better decide what you actually want. Me, I want to leave it to social media to decide for themselves without restriction. But intelligent people should never regard it as news. 4. Your final sentence is pure hyperbole, not worth addressing, except I should point out once again that the Presidential candidate you are supporting has already stated his intention to abrogate the Constitution and “come down hard” on media he does not approve of, like MSNBC, just like his hero Viktor Orban who is coming next week to be his honored guest: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4332877-trump-msnbc-coverage-election-interference-campaign/amp/ https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html

Trump will be meeting with one of his closest friends and allies, Hungarian anti-Semitic dictator Viktor Orban this week in Florida: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-viktor-orban-2024-93c918f419ff870bbc468676cf5a415c After taking office in a free election, Orban has imprisoned all political opponents, clapped down on the free press and made himself President for life. No doubt he will have plenty of advice for his admirer and buddy…

@jerryskids for the record I don’t think you’re a mean person. To your credit you haven’t offered any hateful rhetoric regarding this topic. Others haven’t followed your example, however.

I process them, I just sharply disagree. And I think you’re being incredibly patronizing to transgenders, by telling them they’re doing damage to themselves, or that they’re sick or mentally ill. I hope they don’t spend any time listening to you- or to me either. They should trust their doctors.

You mean worse than it is. “better” than it is, like “damaged” implies that this whole thing is a mistake for most people. From what I’ve read only a tiny percentage ever regret it, though the few that do obviously get a lot of play from conservatives.

https://transcare.ucsf.edu/article/information-estrogen-hormone-therapy#:~:text=Many of the effects of,absent fertility are not reversible. “Many of the effects are reversible…”

I’m not sure but I don’t believe the changes are irreversible. Also the word “damage” is quite revealing. And very inaccurate.

Yes of course. Do you really think this is a good analogy?

I don’t accept your first argument. If I did then I’d have to believe that surgery should be legal for minors as well. I think there’s a difference, but if there isn’t then my fallback is always that the state shouldn’t play a role.

Nobody deserves death threats. I don’t believe that politicians should foster hatred of people. I think that’s happening much more on one side than on the other.

Social media is certainly part of the problem. I hate it. But the other part, which you deny, is the hatred against Latinos being nurtured by Donald Trump in his rhetoric about undocumented immigrants. I had to look up who Riley Gaines was. Such stories don’t interest me. I don’t believe that biological males should compete in girls sports but it’s such a minor issue that I tend to ignore the headlines about it. iMO the only reason that most conservatives make a big deal about it is so they can continue their obsessive anti-trans harassment which is pretty ugly. Even so if she’s been threatened that’s wrong.

So what? Do you doubt it? Would it really surprise you, given the current climate of bigotry and hatred that Trump and others are spreading?

I don’t agree with your intrepretation of the article but I won’t quibble about it. I strongly disagree with the hormones and blockers restrictions. If a minor decides to do this in consultation with doctors and/or parents it’s none of the state’s business. The surgery is a different issue and I can agree to compromise on that. Not on this.

Latino students at Georgia receiving death threats after murder: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/02/us/latino-students-at-uga-face-hostility-after-police-say-suspect-in-laken-rileys-death-is-undocumented/index.html

Isn’t this too inclusive? Some people from the eastern/southern parts of Europe might be the wrong skin color. Or the wrong religion. Better be more restrictive.

Well the article mentioned some alternative reasons: they don’t have the facilities. In a sense their desire for restrictions mirrors my reluctant agreement that we need to contain the flow of undocumented immigrants: too much too soon. I weary of this topic because it’s become political and it shouldn’t be. Let’s cut to the chase: minors under 18 shouldn’t be allowed surgery. They can have treatment but not the surgery until they’re 18. No other restrictions- let people do what they want. No biological males competing in girls sports. Harsh rules/laws against bullying. And let’s move on as a society.

The numbers have never been this high. You’re correct about that. We need to take some emergency action to contain them. Biden has been derelict. I agree with all of this. I was willing to accept the compromise proposals that James Lankford worked out. They leaned heavily to the right, IMO. I will never accept Trump’s suggested proposals and I suspect most Democrats will never accept them, which makes them unworkable unless Trump can actually become the dictator he wants to be. So that puts us back at square one. We need to work together to solve this problem but it’s not happening.

Good article on CNN about the cost of living being too high for so many Americans: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/02/economy/american-dream-cost-of-living-housing-childcare/index.html Our economy is booming. But the cost of everything has gone up too much for most people. It is this issue that is generating the xenophobia, the reaction to undocumented immigrants, the support for Trump, the opposition to further aid to Ukraine. I believe this issue is at the heart of it.

It’s also really sad. Putin is a dictator and jon is attacking someone who was imprisoned and murdered for speaking out against the dictatorship. I have speculated in the past that among at least some conservatives there is this strange love for Putin. They admire him. It’s not just Trump.

I wasn’t being smug, The recent focus on undocumented immigrants as mostly violent angry criminals is not only false, it’s a form of bigotry IMO, and fuels xenophobia and the sort of Trumpian divisiveness which I despise. Frankly it terrifies me. I am relieved to see any pushback against it. There’s no smugness involved.

I have posted study after study that demonstrates the exact opposite. Facts do matter. @TimHauck is essentially correct; we need them to keep prices low. It’s true that right now they’re coming in too quickly in too large numbers so we need to contain that, but in the long run the fact that they are a positive has been proven again and again and again. If you don’t believe me ask yourself this question: why in all the years of conservative proposals on this subject, including from Trump, there has never been a push to punish employers for hiring undocumented immigrants? If you truly wanted to get rid of them, punishing the employers, particularly the large agriculture companies, would surely be the fastest way: fines and jail time. Yet this has never happened. Why is that? What does it tell you?