The Real timschochet

This is thread in which I hope to engage in discussion here about anything other than politics. All are welcome but if you try to raise political issues here I will ignore you. Busy weekend for me: tonight I am going to see the film Nuremberg. I love historical dramas of this sort but this one got some mediocre reviews so far; still I’m hoping for the best. Will report back. Tomorrow night I am at So Fi Stadium to see my Steelers against the Chargers. I try to attend Steelers games whenever they’re in town which is usually every 3 years or so. Pittsburgh played very well last week at home but this will be a bigger test on the road. Can they contain Herbert? I have my doubts, frankly.

Good morning. I’ve avoided posting in the Charlie Kirk thread out of respect and because I remembered the reaction to the first attempt to assassinate Donald Trump- I knew that emotions would run high and I had no desire to contribute to what would inevitably be a very ugly back and forth. I would however, like to engage in a larger discussion about political violence in this country. There are three essential points I would like to make, keeping in mind that these are my opinions only: First, we are kidding ourselves by trying to pretend that political violence and assassinations are not normal in this country. Unfortunately the opposite is true: from Alexander Hamilton to Abraham Lincoln to JFK to the present day, this is who we are as a nation. We are a violent country and we more often than not settle our differences with violence. All those of goodwill would like it to be otherwise, but that’s not who we’ve been. What happened to Charlie Kirk is exactly who we’ve been. Second, political violence is not mostly caused by conservatives and is not mostly caused by liberals. Nor is it necessarily caused by extremists from either side (though this might be more often than not.) It is caused by people from all sides who are passionate about their beliefs and have decided that violence is the best means to achieve their goals. I would argue further that most of these people are not mentally ill; they made conscious, rational decisions to get to this point, even if (hopefully) most of us would disagree with that decision. Third: reading the Charlie Kirk thread, if one is able to put aside the threats and insults, the main argument being made by conservatives is that those of us on the left are culpable because our rhetoric against conservatives has, in recent times, been extremist, which invites violence against prominent conservatives. There is merit to this argument. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Nor am I going to engage in whataboutisms though I could, because they’re irrelevant to the charge. (If I do something wrong my guilt is not lessened by the fact that others committed the same wrong, even if those others are the ones charging me with the crime.) What I WILL say is that, while I can’t speak for others, whenever I have used extremist language to describe aspects of the MAGA movement it was not done out of provocation but because I believe it to be true. My defense, therefore, is essentially integrity in my arguments. No doubt this will either not be believed or will not be acceptable to many here. But there it is.

The old Israel Gaza thread seems to be missing (in any case I can’t find it) so I started a new one. Apologies if I missed it. In any case: 1. I believe the current Israeli government is guilty of genocide in their systemic, deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. 2. I support the Israeli government doing an about face here and, as of today, allowing humanitarian aid in. This will save lives. Point #2 is a big part of the reason I continue to support Israel and see them as good guys. Good countries, including the United States, have committed bad acts. We have committed genocide ourselves in the past. The difference is when we do bad stuff we try to to fix it, we acknowledge our mistakes and wrongdoings, we try to make amends. My right wing friends think Israel can do no wrong. My left wing friends think Israel is evil. Both are wrong. Hamas is evil. Israel is a good country who sometimes does bad things. That being said, Netanyahu is a bad man who needs to be removed from office and probably charged with war crimes.

I’m glad you put “rescued” in quotation marks.

Just so ignorant. Start here and educate yourself: https://www.studiesweekly.com/4-arab-american-scientists-to-know/ There’s so much more but you can google it for yourself. If you’re willing to do that and are honest (both of which I doubt) you’ll acknowledge your ignorance and bigotry and apologize. But I doubt it.

This comment really pisses me off. Because I agree with you 100%. But then why is every Afghan refugee in this country responsible for the acts of one crazy dude? Why is every Somali in this country responsible for the acts of a handful who committed fraud? Why is every Muslim in this country responsible for all radical terrorism committed around the world? Why is every undocumented immigrant in this country responsible for the acts of a violent few? You’re not willing to apply the “individual responsibility” rule to any groups you don’t like.

Yeah it really sucks. She broke the law so she deserves to be convicted. But it’s an unjust law and this woman is one of our heroes of this time. Convicting her is like convicting the woman who hid the Anne Frank family.

Surprised there’s not a thread about this. It’s going to be second only to inflation in the minds of most people who will vote next November. Republicans argue that the subsidies, established during Covid, were never meant to be permanent, that there is a ton of corruption, that Obamacare is unsustainable anyhow, that there has got to be a better alternative. And…they’re right about all of it. But they don’t have a good alternative. Personally I don’t see a better alternative for the time being than just throwing money at Obamacare and extending the subsidies indefinitely. Maybe they will. But it looks unlikely and if they don’t, they’re going to get creamed.

Such as? His biggest accomplishment was gay marriage. Did that do tremendous harm?

Prediction: the folks who insisted he targeted the Republican girl won’t apologize or admit their error. They’ll simply move on to the next conspiracy.

The science is all on the side of gender affirming care. Transgenders exist; they’re as old as human civilization. Only recently, in the last 50 years or so, do we have the technology to save these people. That’s a tremendous achievement. Unfortunately ignorance and bigotry get in the way.

Of course they have credibility. They also have nothing to do with this topic.

This is not true. I offered links that completely contradict you. The policies you support are going to get somebody killed.

I deny this.

Many of them were before. You strike me as a prime candidate.

Well you and all the folks who agree with you.

You voted for Trump, that’s how.

I dunno. The rest of the post is far more important though at least short term.

There are still ways Trump could turn this around. All he has to do is: 1. Call off all the tariffs. 2. Call off ICE 3. come up with an amnesty plan for all non violent undocumented immigrants. 4. Extend the ACA subsidies for 2 years while you work out a universal health care plan. 5. Come up with reasonable controls for AI. He does all this he could save the GOP.

And yet teenagers are killing themselves because they can’t get gender affirming care.

Not overturned by courts but by legislation.

Anti trans laws increases the rate of suicide among transgender and nonbinary teenagers: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/anti-transgender-laws-cause-up-to-72-increase-in-suicide-attempts-among-transgender-and-nonbinary-youth-study-shows/ Access to gender affirming care reduces suicide rates among transgender youths: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ga-trans-suicide-press-release/ This is no joke. You’re messing with people’s lives here.

Don’t know which is worse: the idea that this is a social contagion or that autism is a social contagion. Not surprised you have chosen to defend the kooks; you’re clearly one of them.

There are always going to be thugs willing to join the stormtroopers.

One great thing Newsom is doing: hiring all of the CDC officials that Trump and RFK Jr fired: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/us/california-newsom-cdc-trump.html California will be healthy. California will be prepared for the next pandemic. The rest of you can take your chances with the wackjob pseudo doctors that took their place.