Who should be the next president?

[lester1/2jr]

"The Constitution virtually assures that only bad and dangerous people will rise to the top."

https://vimeo.com/20008338

Hoppe really went a long way to sell this old book: finding two people who represent bad and dangerous perfectly.

By this time next year we are either going to be in world War 3 with Russia or having groping replace baseball as the national past time.

[Jim H]

Besides, at this point it's like arguing over who is at the helm of the Titanic. Western civilization is FUBAR.

When wasn't it, exactly?  Would you really rather be living in Ireland in the 1940s or 1950s than now?

There's scary stuff happening, yeah, and some worrying stuff on the horizon.  But...  Day to day, things seem pretty much fine in virtually all of western civilization.  Better in most ways now than 40 years ago.  More stable, healthier, longer living people with way better media and communication systems (feeding us endless negative news).  Just worth remembering.   

[ER]

Besides, at this point it's like arguing over who is at the helm of the Titanic. Western civilization is FUBAR.

When wasn't it, exactly?  Would you really rather be living in Ireland in the 1940s or 1950s than now?

There's scary stuff happening, yeah, and some worrying stuff on the horizon.  But...  Day to day, things seem pretty much fine in virtually all of western civilization.  Better in most ways now than 40 years ago.  More stable, healthier, longer living people with way better media and communication systems (feeding us endless negative news).  Just worth remembering.   

When wasn't western civilization FUBAR? I don't think it's ever had less of a moral compass directing it while at the same time experiencing this level of self-loathing ethnomasochistic internal decay coupled with quiet invasion from outside, all while it purchases its own destruction through its dependence on the very product that funds its foes (oil), with the entirety of this going on amid the bread and circuses of social media and endless "entertainment" distractions. It's a perfect storm of technology meets ancient attitudes meets self loathing meets invasion from within. Nothing lasts forever, and we're seeing our own slow motion conclusion.

And if I lived in Ireland at any time period, I'm sure I'd take up drinking: many over there do. Nice place to visit.....sort of... many people I love live there, but I'd rather live in the United States, so I'm glad I was born on this side of the ocean.

[indianasmith]

The solution to lack of a moral compass is not to throw your support to a man who has none.
If the GOP abandons the values that drew me to it in the first place, then its candidate will not get my vote.

This isn't about the fact that Donald Trump likes sex.  OK, all men, even us Christian conservatives, like sex.
But a man who will allow another man to refer to his daughter as a "piece of ass" in his presence and not punch the guy's lights out for it has no business being a father, much less a President.

And yes, Hillary has enabled her sexual predator of a husband and verbally demeaned his victims for YEARS.
She is an immoral piece of slime too.

I refuse to choose between lung cancer and breast cancer.

So I will choose neither.

[kakihara]

Did anyone else enjoy the debate? I did! im happy now because I got what I wanted from the begining! Trump destroyed her! all I wanted was for trump to stand next to her on stage and reference the scandals and evil deeds that she has done. Benghazi, james grouper, defending child rapists, etc. These things may seem trivial to some, but they are important to me, hopefully more people will wake up and seek out the truth, as subjective as it may be. The look on bill clintons face was priceless! He was shamed publicly and it was beautiful! Now, as stated before, i am not a trumpster. He is very flawed and i understand the position that some people maintain, like indy. Realistically, i dont expect him to win, but i am feeling the urge to vote for him.

[ER]

I recorded the "debate" last night and watched it this morning because I had so much going on when it happened. I haven't read or heard anyone else's analysis of it, and these impressions are strictly my own and I don't know how much they gel with the volume of what others thought.

Her poor choice in attire aside, I thought Hillary Clinton looked good last night in terms of her physical appearance, but why hasn't it been pointed out that she wasn't able to stand for ninety minutes? She sat through 3/4ths of the event.

I think her feeling going in was she was on auto-pilot at this point to win in November, so all she had to do was cruise through without making major mistakes, whereas her opponent (I think I'd say her "enemy" is more apt) had an uphill battle. So she was content to go in and say some basic things and feel she'd have a good night. Instead she was quickly put on the ropes and was drawn out more than she wanted to be. She is someone with much to hide and ended up being lucky that much of what she wanted to be unmentioned was in fact left unmentioned.

Donald Trump was who he is (as opposed to the persona Clinton panders) and did a good job of pushing his tape scandal aside, if only for an evening (I don't think that's going to go away just yet). He said what he wanted to say, scored some body blows against Clinton, and probably did not secure many votes beyond those he already had. I think he felt better at the end of the evening than Clinton did, and when he loses the election next month, as he will, he can at least look back on this as a night he got to vent against those who opposed him.

If Trump proved boorishly unable to wait his turn to speak, then at least he also pointed out that the moderators were unfairly biased in undertaking their role. He was entertaining, Clinton was weak. He was into the event, Clinton didn't want to be there. He had a message, she had rhetoric. He had valid points, she had talking points and counterpunches.

As for Trump's comments on the 2005 recording and what they say of him...since ancient Greece it has been debated whether one's private conduct should have great bearing on one's public position, and clearly Americans, with their roots in Puritanism, feel it does. It's not for me to say that's wrong, only say that because that is how Americans and most people in the world feel, it is what it is and if Donald Trump did not expect his past to haunt him, then he was naïve. Since someone has opened the door to questions of morality, let Clinton herself now beware if she thinks she can slither from a glass house to the white house unscathed.

If anyone can be said to have won last night, it was clearly him in terms of punches that connected, but it was one of those situations where unless he scored a knockout he was still going to lose just because of the real politics of where this country and this election are, and so simply by remaining on her feet (no pun intended) Clinton still has to be viewed as the frontrunner in the wake of the second debate.

In a side note, I really don't like a lot of what the Republican Party stands for. I don't. My situation is that in this...century....the platform of the Democrats has been so anti-American and destructive I can't be part of it, and for that I am viewed as an apostate by a lot of my family, who have been not just supporters of the Democrats for many decades, but in bed with them to the point that some are on a first-name basis with well-known figures in the party. I grew up going to events where people like Tipper Gore would show and speak, John Glenn, if I hadn't had a sore throat when I was little I could have been at a dinner with Ted Kennedy one time, so there's not a lot to gain on a personal level by my not leaping into support for Mrs. Clinton. If I did it'd pour oil on trouble waters on the family front, so my opposition to Democrats is not undertaken lightly, it's a matter of conscience that built over time, and as late as the 2008 primaries I was still holding my nose and voting for Clinton, I certainly supported her husband in the '90s, but she'd be a mess for this country, and will be when she's elected.

My agreement with much of Donald Trump's message, if not an embracing of him as a person, has left me feeling like a woman without a country, so to speak, and last night at my dad's sixtieth birthday party, my aunt, this lawyer b***h from the eighth circle of Hell, said she almost could not be under the same roof with me if I was going to cast a vote for Trump. But she's also been out to get me for years.

Anyway, just sounding off and tossing my thoughts into the void/maelstrom here.

And I hope all my fellow Americans take a moment to give thought to the fact it is Columbus Day, our most embattled holiday of worth. All that we are we indirectly owe Columbus, a fact too often denied in today's PC-riddled society.

[Allhallowsday]

Sorry.  Fock Columbus.  He brought disease and destruction to the New World.  He had native Americans burned alive for refusing to convert to Christianity.  He began the slave trade. 

[indianasmith]

And yet he also opened the first permanent exchange of ideas, information, trade, and immigration between three continents.  He was a man of his time - no European, discovering the West Indies, would have done any differently than he did.  But ER makes a good point - for good or ill, this man is a historical giant whose actions set in motion a chain of events that literally altered the history of the world in thousands of ways, both good and ill. 
   Any time we judge a man of a past era by the moral standards of today, he will come out the loser.

[indianasmith]

I missed the debate last night so I'm watching it now. 
My visceral loathing of Donald Trump knows no bounds, but let me say this much:  Everything that Hillary Clinton said about his moral character, especially his treatment of women, is true.
BUT everything that he pointed out about her husband's atrocious behavior and attitudes towards women was also true.  The fact is, Bill Clinton was a serial sexual predator for years, and his wife enabled that behavior and slandered his accusers on a regular basis.

Neither of them is fit to be President.

[AoTFan]

Neither of them is fit to be President.

Well, sadly, it seems to be all we got right now.  What was that South Park line about choosing between an a***ole and a turd sandwich?  

[AoTFan]

Allow me to speak as an Irish citizen this morning. Ahem. Ready?
Are you a woman who has never been "grabbed by the p***y?" Then I pity you. Do you even know what "grabbed by the p***y" means? Does it automatically equate to a sexual imposition? Does it automatically mean literally to be grabbed, or does it mean something metaphorical, like the draw of lust? That's how I've heard it used, and I've almost always heard the term used by women.

(Yeah, we say things too in private.)

No, you don't!  Everyone knows women are pure, holy, and innocent, and, for the most part, only endure sex cause us evil men make 'em.   

[Allhallowsday]

And yet he also opened the first permanent exchange of ideas, information, trade, and immigration between three continents.  He was a man of his time - no European, discovering the West Indies, would have done any differently than he did.  But ER makes a good point - for good or ill, this man is a historical giant whose actions set in motion a chain of events that literally altered the history of the world in thousands of ways, both good and ill. 
   Any time we judge a man of a past era by the moral standards of today, he will come out the loser.

I do not agree.  Don't be petty.  What about Paul?  Peter?  John?  "What would Jesus do?" 

There is no doubt that Columbus is an important historical figure.  My family would not be here either if America did not become what it is.  I do not honor the man for his courage or endurance or major influence on our history and lives.  Sin is, after all, sin. 

[lester1/2jr]

He was a man of his time - no European, discovering the West Indies, would have done any differently than he did

he was judged as being a pretty atrocious governor in his own day

[indianasmith]

He was ill-suited for that job, but he also had enemies eager to accuse him of all sorts of wrongdoing.
I found that COLUMBUS: THE FOUR VOYAGES was a fascinating and overall balanced picture of the man and his times, I highly recommend it.

[Skull]

There is no doubt that Columbus is an important historical figure.  My family would not be here either if America did not become what it is.  I do not honor the man for his courage or endurance or major influence on our history and lives.  Sin is, after all, sin.  

The brainwashing is deep. Lets talk sin... Can you name me one country the planet Earth without sin? Conquering lands, converting people and slavery is many-many-many years older than the existence of Egypt.

Indians were no innocent bystander, and if you look deep in the Indian culture you'll find out they also sin many-many-many years before Columbus was born. They conquered lands, converting people by raping the women and they had slaves. This was the way it was. Do you think the Mayans built their 'human sacrifice' temples without slaves?

The modernized oasis that we see today is a little dot on the history of mankind and it's a fragile dot too. I'm grateful to be inside this little dot.


As for Columbus, yes what he did was major and needs to be honored and respected. This lefts bulls**t warped teaching for over 40 freaking years is screwing up the truth because the teaching is so damn narrow. This leftist brainwashing wants every American feel ungrateful and depressed that they were born on the greatest miracle on Earth. The United States is a freaking miracle.