[Rancid]

I don't think you can achieve anything in current circumstances.

That's a real losing attitude.

I've certainly have achieved a lot in these "current circumstances".

[Scamp]

@Tainari88 are you a scorned woman? You should seriously look at taking anger management classes.

[JohnRawls]

That's a real losing attitude.

I've certainly have achieved a lot in these "current circumstances".

I would agree with you. Some of you even might have used some of the stuff that I made with other people, for example the Covid Green Certificate if you traveled in Europe and were vaccinated during Covid.

[Rancid]

I would agree with you. Some of you even might have used some of the stuff that I made with other people, for example the Covid Green Certificate if you traveled in Europe and were vaccinated during Covid.

I did travel to Europe not too long after things started to open up.

[Rancid]

I'm wondering what is the profile of anyone that is unsure if they would support Trump or not at this point.

[late]

I'm wondering what is the profile of anyone that is unsure if they would support Trump or not at this point.

Independent, they don't make up their minds, they react to events close to the election (they are reactionaries).

This is why October surprises loom large in politics..

[Rancid]

Independent, they don't make up their minds, they react to events close to the election (they are reactionaries).

This is why October surprises loom large in politics..

I more or less an "independent". Certainly not a Democrat or Republican anyway.

Plenty of independents have made up their mind after all of this (I know plenty). A segment still hasn't decided of course, and that's what I'm trying to understand. What is the psyh profile of that person.

[late]

What is the psyh profile of that person.

Shallow.

These are guys that voted for Nixon twice, Reagan twice, hell, some of them even voted for Trump. That last one isn't shallow, it's brain dead.

[Tainari88]

I more or less an "independent". Certainly not a Democrat or Republican anyway.

Plenty of independents have made up their mind after all of this (I know plenty). A segment still hasn't decided of course, and that's what I'm trying to understand. What is the psyh profile of that person.

A lot of people when they vote they really do it without much forethought or a political philosophy. They go by one issue only that sways them or they go by what someone told them at church.

If a pastor says 'Let us bow our heads and pray for our leader. Trump is against abortion. He is against the sin of homosexuality and immorality. He is also a man with flaws, we shall pray for him. But God uses everyone for his own purposes. Trump is God's instrument on this Earth. Let us pray.'

They then go in the voting booth and vote for Trump.

Biden is a very observant Roman Catholic. But he makes political decisions that are against RC dogma. So? It might cost him the votes of Roman Catholics who are against abortion.

That is what politics becomes. If you do the toxic brew of mixing religion and political affiliations.

Trying to get people to vote is a challenge sometimes. My older son does not like voting. He says it usually happens on a Tuesday and he is working that day. I also wonder why they do not make voting happen on a Sunday since most people are free or off on Sundays in the USA. Or make it a national day off for voting. Close all businesses and so on and have people discuss the issues of the day and then go and vote in an easy way. Online, mail in ballots, or in person with a paper ballot or with a machine.

But have people vote without worrying about losing a working day.

My son has switched to mail in ballot. But he does not like taking time out to deal with voting. It is a pain in the ass for him because he really does not care about politics. One way or the other. If Trump gets the presidency he is still going to be doing his job and his business. It will not affect him. Same as a Democrat wins.

I tell him, pay attention to politics. It will affect you. The mayor could change tax codes and fees, or raise your taxes that are state taxes or fees, the feds could charge you more for your income bracket, and also you could lose benefits over time. It always affects you. Do not believe you are not affected.

My son argues, but that will always happen no matter what. I tell him, if you do not get involved and vote, then you are saying that you refuse to make an effort to shape what kind of society you have to respond to, live in, and be a part of.

You lose your right to complain. It is like a person who eats at a bad restaurant with high prices, and bad food, and yet they ate the bad food, and paid the high prices, but never told the manager or the owners of that restaurant....hey, I am not coming back. I hate your food, and your prices are not affordable. If you do not change that? You will go out of business. Do not say I did not warn you.'

My son then says---They won't change anyway.

I tell him as a reply--People over time process messages sent. Whether good ones or bad ones, the messages sent have an impact. For example, why do advertising companies spend millions on advertising if some simple message like if you eat at Checker's you get a lot of flavor for very little money. Is it true? Hell no. But that message might filter down to your subconscious mind, and one day you are driving around town and are hungry and you see a Checkers and somehow that message of you get a lot of flavor for very little money comes back. You make a turn and go and buy their shitty food.

Communication is powerful. And everything communicates Rancid. The architecture of a house or a commercial building. It communicates, if it is comfortable, cozy, warm, and inviting, or it is cold, industrial and emits power and distance. If a crowd plants itself in front of a business and is chanting they pay us crap, they treat us badly, do not go and spend with them....how many people respect that and do not go in there and they might not agree with the crowd but they then think let me go to another supermarket and avoid the controversy and through that alone the supermarket loses business and is willing to negotiate with the protesters.

It is about communication. So....the politicians can get violent. Kill the protesters but the News press media might report it or youtube etc will make it a viral video and then voila....bad press.

Or it can create a response to get the issue taken care of. For example, the NYT newspaper had a reporter who reported that a lot of retail chains were using illegal child labor from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, etc to do adult dangerous work and many kids had died doing those jobs working for subcontractors.

Biden administration heard about that horror and acted fast. Why? They knew if they did nothing that would piss off millions of parents with kids who went to school and did not have to go to work in dangerous conditions and they were against child labor in dangerous jobs. They had to respond for bad publicity.

It is all about communication. So? I told my son....your vote counts.

He then sighed and said, but you always vote for a party that never wins Mom. Why?

I said it is not about winners and losers son. It is about communicating your message properly and being true to what you think the solution is for your community and your nation. If you think Biden is the man who will solve the issues vote for him. If you think Trump is the man who will solve the problem then you vote for him. If you think the socialists are the solution you vote for them. if you think the anarcho capitalists like Milei is in Argentina you vote for them. But if people never vote for their conscience and never give any thought to what the solution is? What are you communicating?

Herd mentality. And lack of analysis. That is the problem. Not thinking at all.

At least if you think? And try that option? And it fails? You go back and get another option. But you do it with the realization that you never followed the crowd and did not do it without real forethought and thoroughness. You are closer to the goal of getting the problem solved. Sometimes a series of really productive failures is the key to success.

He liked that answer because he graduated in biology and science Rancid.

Logic appeals to my older son. A lot.

[Istanbuller]

I more or less an "independent". Certainly not a Democrat or Republican anyway.

Plenty of independents have made up their mind after all of this (I know plenty). A segment still hasn't decided of course, and that's what I'm trying to understand. What is the psyh profile of that person.

You are not independent. You are far from it.

[JohnRawls]

You are not independent. You are far from it.

What do you mean? His an independent for sure. This is the real world and not twitter where you just chat between your own ideological budies back and forward that shifts your understand of what actual normal voter is.

I wouldn't be surprised if @Rancid would vote for Nikki Hailey if she was on the ballot but she won't be there. This is the main reason why Trump will loose.

Polls might be showing lead for Trump but polls are conducted between registered voters heavily. Most independents are not registered voters. And I am not talking about just non-party independents but also independants that might be members of the party for one reason or the other.

Most independants have crossed out Trump long ago and the Republican party for now. That is why they have been sucking massive Dingus for the last 4-5-6 elections.

[Tainari88]

You are not independent. You are far from it.

And you admire a bunch of political hacks in the USA who favor crap policy. You do not live in the USA. You do not vote in the USA. And English is not your native language. You admire whoever is rich and powerful because that is what you aspire to become someday.

Work on becoming rich and powerful in your own culture and stop admiring a bunch of immoral, greedy foreigners who probably think of your group as a bunch of know-nothings without civilization.

You are dealing with super narrow, tunnel-visioned assholes. But you are a victim of bad propaganda and lack of real-world experience in living in the USA.

Rancid can say whatever the fuck he wants to say about politics in the USA and who or what policies he is going to support. He pays taxes there, lives there and his kids go to school there. He is affected by it every day.

Unlike the majority of the voters who vote, he tries to be true to his own real world experience.

I have been reading Rancid man here for years and years. What does @Rancid say and write about?

1) Trump is a cult.

2) Liberal democracy with regulated capitalism is what he thinks is the best combination of factors or systems to follow.

3) Education should be of high quality and free to all the kids who need it. His parents knew he needed a better public school system than what he had in his lower-income neighborhood in Miami so they put an address that was a relative's and sent him to a better school district. This helped him academically. He met his future wife in high school. I think they had a lot in common, both were children of immigrants who wanted their kids to do well in US society. His parents were less about material success and more about making good choices.

4) He decided he needed to make a decision to be successful materially and to be able to get married and have a family someday. So, he worked his butt off and it paid off.

Rancid, did follow the American Dream formula. That is put your nose to the grindstone, do not blame the system for a failure. Take personal responsibility and work within the framework for success. It is really about what you are willing to do to reach a goal. He did that. It worked for him. So he believes in the system. He is not against the American system because the goal from his parents' time was to take the opportunities afforded to him, (by the Leftist Civil Rights movement and the pressure on people who were unwilling to allow minorities to thrive according to their own abilities) and once those doors were broken down he went through it.

In his experience the United States does have a functional system for all people. Regardless of race, or nationality, etc. He is liberal socially. Sort of conservative about economics. He does not like white liberals trying to distort what is about bread and butter issues in the USA.

Rancid is consistent with his politics.

He goes with whoever makes the most sense to him. But he does it knowing full well what the implications are. Unlike many other voters out there. He backed Andrew Yang because that guy still thought capitalism is quite useful and balanced, and Yang was about logic, technology and being balanced. Do not have government not serve the needs of others who are struggling. Rancid had parents who were working class people. They are part of his identity too. So the balance is between liberal policies and conservative capitalist classical principles for him.

It reflects his entire life experiences. IT makes sense for him.

He swings according to which candidate is more down to earth and common sense for his reflection of what should American lifestyles should be about.

See @Rancid I do read other people on here and over time understand what they say or write about. If you love human beings? You pay attention to what they think. It is not about disagreement really. It is about being true to your own life experiences.

[Deutschmania]

Lol. No, Scampy that was me inventing dialog based on the slant of what you write. Lol.

A bunch of racists think that all day. I thought all the blacks are just thugs.

That is what goes on in the back of a lot of racist minds.

It is tiring dealing with it.

It is tiring dealing with men like you Scamp. Who still hold on to visions of the Glorious and good men of the confederacy who are a bunch of losers. You lost a war. To a bunch of dyed in the wool carpetbagging low-life Yankees who wanted to destroy your way of life, and your economy because they were going to industrialize the USA via a breakneck process and had to destroy the economy that was based on owning human beings and getting loans from banks to buy slave labor. The new model was about importing a bunch of European immigrants and paying them peanuts and then getting the ex-slaves to abandon the farms in the South and go and work for the factory owners and sweatshops in the North.

I read the debates they had in the Library of Congress records on what the Yanks were up to and how the Southern Confederacy responded to all that underhanded Yankee stuff. Lol.

That is how the cookie crumbles in the world Scamp. A new model for economic production takes over and you have to destroy the competing model and then use violence and subjugation to force the new model. Be damned the traditions, the culture, and the lifestyles of the ones most affected.

It is like this clip from that movie called COLD MOUNTAIN:

You made the weather dude Scamp. With that VILE fucking concept of owning human beings and forcing them to work for hundreds of years for FREE but the BANKS had to be paid, for all that human flesh that you bought for beasts of burden so your billions in cotton and tobacco could be harvested. And made money out of. The South built the wealth of the North. It did.

And then the North made its move on the South. In order to keep all those payments to the banks...the Northern Robber Barons made their moves in Congress.

And they slapped you down til you BLED.

Then they made peace and moved the USA into Manifest Destiny. And you have been trying to heal the wounds of that war from the beginning. You need to realize that YOU MADE THE WEATHER. And the storm came for your way of life. Based on exploiting and buying and selling labor that was never shared with the people who labored for free.

It stayed in a few hands. Most Southern whites were never slave owners. They were dirt-poor sharecroppers trying to live a decent Christian life. Humble people. Mostly poor.

The mistake they made was allowing the elitists in both camps tell them that the only valuable thing they had to hold over the freed African American slaves post Civil war was being white.

Should have united as a class and kicked the elites ass and shared all the wealth with the USA in real brotherhood and sisterhood as a truly free society.

But that divide and conquer shit sure does work with weak minds.

I bet the Russians are hoping you kill each other. The Liberals vs the Conservatives, those damn furriners and those this or that. So they can sweep in and take over the space left by the Globalists....oops those people are left unmolested.

You missed the boat again Scampy!!

Ah, the Civil War . That's my " Roman Empire" , in case any of you hadn't known. I feel that this period of time , and the events preceding and following it , have been shaping the course of U.S. political opinions and social conditions ever since , due to unfinished business that has yet to be resolved . For instance , regarding the conflict of interest between labor and capital , there had been , in the State of New York anyway , the Working Men's Party held some prominence , until it eventually folded into the Democratic Party , which has been where many left-wing populist pro-labor third parties have gone to die . A later case in point , the Farmer-Labor Party . But in its early years , the Republican Party had itself earned a reputation for providing cover for political left radicals , surprising as this may now seem. https://cosmonautmag.com/2019/02/a-left-wing-history-of-the-republican-party/
Later on , in North Carolina , the Republican and the People's Party even formed a coalition . https://www.ncpedia.org/fusion-republicans-and-populists , https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/fusion-politics/

Perhaps this is the way forward , selectively supporting progressive Democrats , while also maintaining such left-wing third parties as the Green Party , an an alternative . P.S. Since you mentioned " Cold Mountain" , one of my favorite movies , regarding the political situation in the South , immediately following the Civil War , is Freedom Road . In it freed blacks and poor whites team up , in support of the Republicans , against such terrorists as the Red Shirts . Another one , which is set during the Civil War itself , is Free State of Jones .

[Rancid]

And you admire a bunch of political hacks in the USA who favor crap policy. You do not live in the USA. You do not vote in the USA. And English is not your native language. You admire whoever is rich and powerful because that is what you aspire to become someday.

Work on becoming rich and powerful in your own culture and stop admiring a bunch of immoral, greedy foreigners who probably think of your group as a bunch of know-nothings without civilization.

You are dealing with super narrow, tunnel-visioned assholes. But you are a victim of bad propaganda and lack of real-world experience in living in the USA.

Rancid can say whatever the fuck he wants to say about politics in the USA and who or what policies he is going to support. He pays taxes there, lives there and his kids go to school there. He is affected by it every day.

Unlike the majority of the voters who vote, he tries to be true to his own real world experience.

I have been reading Rancid man here for years and years. What does @Rancid say and write about?

1) Trump is a cult.

2) Liberal democracy with regulated capitalism is what he thinks is the best combination of factors or systems to follow.

3) Education should be of high quality and free to all the kids who need it. His parents knew he needed a better public school system than what he had in his lower-income neighborhood in Miami so they put an address that was a relative's and sent him to a better school district. This helped him academically. He met his future wife in high school. I think they had a lot in common, both were children of immigrants who wanted their kids to do well in US society. His parents were less about material success and more about making good choices.

4) He decided he needed to make a decision to be successful materially and to be able to get married and have a family someday. So, he worked his butt off and it paid off.

Rancid, did follow the American Dream formula. That is put your nose to the grindstone, do not blame the system for a failure. Take personal responsibility and work within the framework for success. It is really about what you are willing to do to reach a goal. He did that. It worked for him. So he believes in the system. He is not against the American system because the goal from his parents' time was to take the opportunities afforded to him, (by the Leftist Civil Rights movement and the pressure on people who were unwilling to allow minorities to thrive according to their own abilities) and once those doors were broken down he went through it.

In his experience the United States does have a functional system for all people. Regardless of race, or nationality, etc. He is liberal socially. Sort of conservative about economics. He does not like white liberals trying to distort what is about bread and butter issues in the USA.

Rancid is consistent with his politics.

He goes with whoever makes the most sense to him. But he does it knowing full well what the implications are. Unlike many other voters out there. He backed Andrew Yang because that guy still thought capitalism is quite useful and balanced, and Yang was about logic, technology and being balanced. Do not have government not serve the needs of others who are struggling. Rancid had parents who were working class people. They are part of his identity too. So the balance is between liberal policies and conservative capitalist classical principles for him.

It reflects his entire life experiences. IT makes sense for him.

He swings according to which candidate is more down to earth and common sense for his reflection of what should American lifestyles should be about.

See @Rancid I do read other people on here and over time understand what they say or write about. If you love human beings? You pay attention to what they think. It is not about disagreement really. It is about being true to your own life experiences.

I've been on here too long.....

I'd say your assessment of me is very good. Mostly accurate. I would add that I feel like I've shifted a bit more left economically over the years. I do still think a mixed/balanced system is the most sustainable. However, a key driver of my slight shift left economically is from the experience of working in corporate America. Also from reading a few books on corporate management (like the innovators solution and innovators dilemma), and my favorite book the dictators handbook. The funny thing is, those corporate strategy/management books that were recommended by my management at different companies over the years had a different effect on me. I certainly learned good ideas/tools for developing strategies and management techniques. However, those books also made me feel like businesses are just dumbshit hamster wheels, and it's fucking weird how some people basically make running on the hamster wheel their life's mission. It also helped me understand that a system that optimizes for profit is a system that does not optimize for broad human well being. The lie we have been feed is that if profit goes up, then everyone's happy (obviously not). I could go on, but i'll stop, need to do stuff.

As for @Istanbuller, the hilarity about his position is that in America, the very people he thinks are great/good/whatever, are the very people that would seem him as second class, no matter how much money he has.

To @JohnRawls, I wouldn't vote for Hailey if she magically became the candidate in 2024. I can't see myself voting for a Republican for a long time. The spinlessness they have displayed over the last 8 years or so is too egregious. That party is a threat to this nation even if Trump loses, I will still see them as a threat for the time being. They would have to cut out MAGA, grow a pair of balls, and become more reasonable, be willing to compromise some, and be willing to actually work for the American people. They haven't shown any of that, and it will take a long time, if ever for that to happen.

I'd much rather see a new center right party show up. The Republican party just needs to die, and all those shit Republican politicians need to lose their jobs or go to prison. I'm not saying I'm a fan of the Lincoln project, but if some sort of political party sprang from that. I might be willing to consider voting for that... I stress MIGHT, this is all hypothetical, so whatever....

If you are not familiar, the Lincoln project is a group of people that have completely gone against MAGA and Trump.

The Lincoln project is so hard against Trump, I wouldn't be surprised if you mistook them for a leftist group. However, they are not. It's a right wing group. They're not stupid or crazy like MAGA.

[Tainari88]

@Rancid you are not voting for Nikki Haley? LOL.

I got to go to Tanya's party my main man.

Lincoln Project is super crazy good attacking the MAGA people.

I can do better attack ads. Did I tell you I used to do voice overs for a bunch of things in college? Paid for expensive textbooks with my voiceovers....

You put on GPS at Enterprise Rent a Car in Spanish or English Rancid....my voice floats over you...

En 6 kilometros viraras a la derecha.

It 4 miles you will turn right.

Hee hee.

You are going slightly Left eh? Hee hee.

No Republican votes for years....you rascal. I really like your Andrew Yang option. Too bad that guy is like a third party choice. Any of the good ones never win Rancid. The bad candidates always win.

[Rancid]

I can do better attack ads. Did I tell you I used to do voice overs for a bunch of things in college? Paid for expensive textbooks with my voiceovers....

No shit? lol that's awesome.

No Republican votes for years....you rascal. I really like your Andrew Yang option. Too bad that guy is like a third party choice. Any of the good ones never win Rancid. The bad candidates always win.

I'm really not sure if I would vote for him, but he had good ideas worth thinking about and discussing.

[Drlee]

https://time.com/5471069/guns-life-expectancy/

[Tainari88]

https://time.com/5471069/guns-life-expectancy/

They say there are two big issues.

1) Border immigration issues.

2) Gaza and Ukraine and wars.

And probably gun control. That crap keeps on going.

People are also complaining about paying high prices for McDonald's. I do not see that is a pressing issue. But in the USA people are doling out $16 dollars for a Big Mac Meal.

[Potemkin]

People are also complaining about paying high prices for McDonald's. I do not see that is a pressing issue. But in the USA people are doling out $16 dollars for a Big Mac Meal.

There’s a simple solution to that problem: stop buying their overpriced shit. Do people in America not know how capitalism works?

[Tainari88]

There’s a simple solution to that problem: stop buying their overpriced shit. Do people in America not know how capitalism works?

No, they do not. They are addicted to bad ads stating how Mickey D's has the best French Fries and so on and so forth. For me, homemade food in my house is wwwaaaaayyyy better than any crap from a bad restaurant, fast or slow.

Well, Pote, I went to Tanya's party. I had a sit down talk with her as I sipped a delicious cocktail and ate a salad, some sliders, some potato balls, and so on. She had basically picnic food for her dinner. It was delicious.

Anyway, she left Cuba for living in Mexico through visiting some friends of hers in Cancun. She had her visa run out and it was due to a backlog during the pandemic. But she had lived in Florida for a while and made money over there. She is from La Habana la Vieja, or Old Havana.

She initially wanted to make dentures for a living. Open a denture manufacturing business. But she wound up in the Cayman Islands and in a fancy resort (since she speaks three languages fluently including English), she then applied for denture education in California, and another in of all places? Yes Potemkin, Edinburgh, Scotland. She accepted the scholarship and visa in Scotland and rented an apartment there. For one year. She loves how pretty the city is....but being Cuban she HATED the weather. She said to me in Spanish, 'it is cold. Damp cold. Sometimes it rains nonstop for a week. The people are boring. But the city looks and feels amazing. Beautiful city.'

She was not too happy about the food and it was too expensive. But the quality of education is very good she stated. I thought it was quite interesting. What a coincidence eh? She has connections there apparently. All related to studying to make dentures.

But now, she wants to dedicate her life to health and fitness. That woman is African looking, petite and dynamic, and she is dark skinned, and lively!! Tanya wants me to be her guinea pig and whip me into shape and work on my health issues.

She has the dream of being a coach for health. I told her, go ahead, and pester me all day if you want to.

She is going back to pick up her Cuban boyfriend in the Cayman Islands who is a chef at a resort. So he is coming to Mexico.

She bought a property in Merida in a development. She is going to open her business there and she wants someone who can interpret her stuff in English. But I told her your English is fine Tanya. No, she replied, I need someone who speaks great English for the British market and the USA market. That is going to be you Tainari.

It was a bit of a business meeting party socializing thing. Hee hee.

I got a bunch of calls from people.

People need to stop eating McDonald's. That is for sure.