Posts by ruggedjackal46

Paul Sanders5 said:Look, brightpilot6, I get it, but some things just aren't about politics. The government shouldn't be cutting checks—not even a single cent—to any media outlet, period.

And honestly, Robin Fox2 hit the nail on the head regarding Trump. America isn't just California, Texas, and New York.

If we followed that logic here in the States, we wouldn't have a single news outlet left standing. It's pretty straightforward when you think about it.

Matthew Anderson4 said:It’s like you’re reading my mind. Creepy.

Literal chills.

Anthony Jackson2 said:The real issue isn't that they voted for Trump—it’s that they were voting against whatever the alternative was offering. It’s a dead end, long-term—once reality sets in and they realize he isn't what they expected, they'll find out they didn't just get nothing, they actually messed things up—think Brexit. Unfortunately, the other side put forward the wrong guy, someone who really shouldn't have been in the running. If a candidate without a million scandals showed up, they probably would've swept the election, but instead, we're stuck with this. Personally, I'm not losing sleep over it—nothing much is going to change. He'll build that wall just to line the pockets of his construction buddies and himself. Maybe he'll ease tensions with Russia, though whether anyone actually lets him do that is debatable. He doesn't have enough leverage to dictate foreign policy—there are far more powerful players than some figurehead sitting in the Oval Office.

Long-term, none of these choices actually get us anywhere, and that's the fundamental problem. On one side, you've got the radical right wing (think Brexit or Trump), and on the other, a stagnant status quo that has zero intention of changing (like the EU or Hillary Clinton). It’s pretty obvious that "choosing the lesser of two evils" isn't a real solution. We need a third option altogether.

Unfortunately, the other side ended up fielding someone who had no business being in that race to begin with. If they had put forward someone without a mountain of scandals trailing behind them, they probably would have crushed Trump. Instead, we’re stuck with what we have.

Exactly. When you stop to think about how the primary argument against Bernie Sanders was basically just "well, Hillary will beat Trump first," it really puts things into perspective. 🤦

Generally speaking, this whole "lesser of two evils" campaign strategy has been an absolute train wreck across almost all of America. You self-proclaimed civilized politicians from the center and the left are going to have to actually come up with some tangible ideas and actual policy platforms, because scaring voters by labeling everyone else a "fascist" just isn't cutting it anymore.

If there's one silver lining I can find in all of this, it's the fact that Biden and Hillary had been.

Every single news outlet is out here screaming about the apocalypse, but if you actually look at Hillary’s track record, you’re just looking at a soulless, corrupt politician whose foreign policy was so predictable even Bush wouldn't have had much to complain about. Sure, Trump is a disaster, but I’m honestly not convinced he’s any more of a villain than Hillary is.

🤣

It just won't work when I try putting it near restlesssurfer97.

restlesssurfer97 said:So, does anyone happen to know where Leonard Nimoy went? 🙂

On life support, 🙂presumably.

Ever since Klopp stepped away from Liverpool, I’ve pretty much lost interest in following soccer altogether. Just an old sentimentalist, I guess. 😍

Honestly, I don't recall 😳

OtaTZ definitely came to life right here, all thanks to the efforts of sukki and Bati.

So, who’s actually going to be the next American Zidane—some young phenom ready to take over? I’m putting my money on Jandroković.

Larry Fox5 said:You're just as much "trash" to someone else as they are to you. It's so easy to act like you're the center of the universe and lecture everyone else about society using all these fancy-sounding terms... But what even defines being "good" or "merciful"? Who gets to decide how to measure or label that?

Even things we call "socially acceptable" or "desirable" in this country don't mean they're actually ethical. History is nothing but a massive graveyard filled with the victims of "socially acceptable" mob justice.

Personally, I think when we're talking about an official abusing their power to embezzle massive amounts of taxpayer money, determining the standard for "goodness" becomes pretty straightforward.

Sandra Johnson58 said:The Smart Party isn't gonna come anywhere close to what the Libertarians did. Why? Because the Democrats and Republicans will just steamroll them to avoid having to deal with this whole mess again. Right now, the Smart Party just looks like a group that talks big from the sidelines without actually having to run anything, you know? Like, they don't govern a single city. We'll see how they do in the local elections, I guess. We can talk more once I hear someone say, "Hey, we have the solution," because honestly, that just makes me sick.

My bad, damn, it was getting late.

Finding a job in America is getting harder and harder, I guess. College helps, but it really depends on what you study. A Mechatronics degree is definitely gonna be way more helpful than, like, any Philosophy degree. Besides, for all those general jobs that don't require a specific major, people from all kinds of majors will apply. Let's play a guessing game: if they meet all the requirements, who do you think gets the edge, a lawyer or a librarian😁 just because of the sheer variety of stuff they can do for the same pay?

Honestly, America doesn't have a massive overflow of graduates in certain fields right now—especially when you look at STEM and tech—but we definitely have too many people with degrees in other areas because everyone keeps flocking to those majors. Professional associations constantly send data to Washington suggesting what the actual quotas should be for specific jobs, but nobody seems to care because the students are paying tuition, and the government needs that cash. Our education system is pretty messy and honestly kind of incompetent compared to other similar countries, yet our politicians walk around with zero shame bragging about how much of a "knowledge economy" we are🤣. You can totally see it in this☕

I think we can all agree on that. However, I don't think the fix is cutting the education budget; it's more about actually spending the money intelligently. Though, let's be real: if the people making those decisions were actually smart, we probably wouldn't be sitting here debating the failure of our schools in the first place.😁

Sandra Johnson58 said:I mean, I think the NSSA holds like almost 30 percent if I remember correctly, so it makes sense that they have the biggest slice of the pie. Obviously, going to a university opens up way more doors for you, but I highly doubt employers are out there scrambling to hire some philosophy major, an occupational safety engineer, or a crisis management specialist. 🤣It feels like America is just cranking out college grads right now just so politicians can brag on the world stage about how we have 20 percent higher ed coverage instead of ten. But honestly? I guess they’re all just gonna end up using shovels instead of degrees, and most of these folks aren't exactly thrilled about that. They aren't exactly built for manual labor or getting their hands dirty in some trade, you know? It's such a shame they picked the wrong majors... they'll either be working hard in the dirt or just starving. I mean, you see guys with philosophy degrees working as servers in Chicago, and don't even get me started on the economists—I know a few personally who are in the same boat. 😁

Wait, when did I even bring up religious groups? Honestly, I don't give a damn about them—I wouldn't give them a cent. Just for the sake of argument though, looking back, we've basically always been run by people with fancy college degrees, you know? Highly educated types. And look where that's gotten us... nowhere. I mean, I haven't really noticed any major difference in election results just because we have more people with degrees running things now. As long as the main Democratic party keeps sweeping the majority instead of actually struggling to even hit the threshold, there’s really nothing left to debate. And the American education system? Yeah, it's pretty much trashed. I mean, sure, there are some exceptions here and there, but it's gonna stay messed up for a long time. The government just doesn't have the cash, and even when they do find some money or go into debt to get it, it just ends up lining someone's pockets anyway. I guess that's just how it's been since this country was founded.

I think you missed the point. It’s not that high schoolers represent the absolute highest number of unemployed people, but rather that their unemployment rate is significantly higher compared to those with associate's or bachelor's degrees. Essentially, the more education you have, the better your odds of actually landing a job.

Obviously, a college degree opens up way more doors, though I highly doubt employers are out there hunting for specialized philosophers, occupational safety engineers, or crisis management experts🤣.

There’s a massive pool of jobs out there that don't require a specific degree; instead, employers just want someone flexible enough to learn the ropes quickly. Having a philosophy degree will definitely get you through the door for a wider variety of roles—non-manual labor, obviously—much faster than someone who only has a high school diploma or a trade certificate.

America is basically churning out college graduates right now just so politicians can brag on the global stage about having 20 percent of the population educated, rather than ten. Honestly, these folks might find work, but they'll be using shovels instead of brains, and most of them aren't exactly thrilled about that. They aren't too "refined" for manual labor, and they didn't spend years in a lecture hall just to get their hands dirty. It’s a shame they picked the wrong majors, because now they’re stuck choosing between manual labor or starving. You see plenty of philosophy majors working as servers in Chicago, and don't even get me started on the economics grads—I know some personally😁

Compared to the rest of Europe, the US actually has a relatively low number of highly educated people; it’s not like we have degrees to throw around like confetti. So, when they leave the country, it’s more of a labor shortage issue for America than an education issue. In other words, having fewer educated people wouldn't fix everything; it would just mean a higher unemployment rate, since people with less education struggle even more to find steady work.

Sandra Johnson58 said:I mean, what’s the point of even pushing for more college grads when we can't even find decent jobs for the ones we already have, let alone pay them a living wage? Plus, honestly, not every degree actually matters for society... there are just so many useless majors out there, and some of these community colleges or state universities—kind of like those random local campuses you see in the Midwest—they don't really offer much. Our education system just gets more and more broken every single time a new administration takes over in D.C. At this rate, if things keep going the way they are, I guess the whole system won't even exist in twenty years.

The largest chunk of the unemployed population falls within the non-specialized workforce. Generally speaking, the more education someone has, the better their shot at landing a job.

Sure, you’ll find plenty of unemployed graduates, plenty of "educated" folks who lack common sense, and plenty of broken institutions, but should we really take that as a sign that education itself is worthless? Not necessarily.

amberlynx0 said:The Antifascist network in Washington, D.C. pulls in 70,000 bucks a year from the government. 🤣

Let me guess, the head of the association is Saša Broz, isn't she? 🙏

$23? That’s about what a single paintbrush for cleaning highway tunnels costs these days.

Robin Fox2 said:Honestly, I couldn't care less what some priest has to say; let him speak his mind. It’s 2016, so we should have reached a level of maturity where people can actually express themselves without being silenced—though I suppose that's a two-way street before those hyper-sensitive liberals decide to clog up the entire USA... if we haven't reached that stage yet, then we're basically just some backwater town far removed from civilization. What actually bothers me is seeing some bureaucrat pull strings to shut down a TV station for three days.

Then again, I don't even know what this station is; I don't think I've spent a single minute watching their programming in my life, yet the mere fact that some political appointee can just flip a switch and turn them off is 🤣

See, those bureaucrats—specifically the FCC—just handed this same obscure little channel $300,000 this year alone to keep the lights on. So yeah, I'm also pretty bothered by the fact that we have bureaucrats deciding the fate of a station they're essentially subsidizing. 😁

So what if he turns out to be a total jerk? 🤷

Honestly, I don't care whether he ends up being some hero or a complete villain, sane or totally unhinged. What actually fascinates me is how people who claim to be objective can be so incredibly subjective, depending entirely on their own mental state and worldview.

Besides, focusing on a slight change in his voice feels like a minor, more interesting angle. But diving into full-blown delusions of reality? That’s just a massive, overstretched, and completely unoriginal topic.

SPOILER

Nicole Jones13 said:The core issue is just how much this guy is spiraling. He’s so incredibly bitter about his mediocre existence and perceives everything around him as being identical and utterly boring, that he ends up desecrating some Japanese doll just to stage this massive internal spectacle.

It’s obvious within five seconds of the movie how pathetic he is. Whether he’s just plain miserable or so desperate that he’d mess with a Japanese doll just to spite reality—honestly, does it even matter?

I actually find the concept kind of poetic: the idea that the world has become so tasteless and bleak for him that it manifests in every woman having a deep, masculine voice. And then, naturally, he falls for someone not because of their looks, their scent, or any other tired cliché, but simply because of their voice. It’s simple, yet somehow refreshing and authentic. So why bother with that cheap "But wait! She’s actually just a sex doll and he imagined the whole thing!" twist? It’s a completely unnecessary layer that just ends up muddying everything else that actually worked.

I am so incredibly sick of those low-rent movies where the big reveal is that everything we just watched was a hallucination. As if making everything a fake makes the truth more profound or the film smarter. In reality, it just trivializes everything you've been sitting through.

Well, damn it. I was just about to sit down and write up how sweet this movie was, and honestly, how relieved I am that Kaufman finally decided to stop overcomplicating everything for once. And then you guys go and ruin the whole vibe for me. 🤣

Kaufman 🤦