Off topic – politics

[Klctlc]

Thunder I appreciate this site so much. I like the nsfw photos, the honest opinions with an edge (sometimes) and the constant focus on football.

I have no idea on your political beliefs and don’t care much, like you don’t care about mine. You are not like hollywood people or rock stars who have incredible talent and other gifts and they think that entitles them to special status so they can tell us what they think about world events. Despite the fact many of them are high school dropouts and don’t live in reality.

My point with this is that a website we both love, probably the greatest website i have ever seen has appeared to cross that line tonight. I am sorry for posting this on your site but i know there is crossover between many of the users here and there and frankly there is nowhere else to express my frustration.

I don’t expect an answer from you but I am hoping people from both sides of the political aisles can chime in. We are in a tough place in the us right now politically. Everybody has strong opinions, but nobody is “right” they just have strong opinions. When a business owner takes a side he/she is alienating roughly 40% of their customers. It is their choice, their option and their website. However, Don’t do it. We love Michigan football, most of us didn’t go there but that doesn’t matter. We argue about stupid things but we come together to discuss what we love. Most of us grew up seeing that helmet and living in the State in the 70’s as a kid there was not much in terms of sports you could count on to be good. But you knew Michigan Football was going to be there every year.

Keep your site the way it is and fortunately or unfortunately you may have a chance to grow this site even bigger very soon.

[WindyCityBlue]

Guess what…this is no longer about disagreeing amiably with your conservative buddy while you chug beers and watch the Michigan game. This is war, for the soul of this country, even if you don’t realize it yet, and like it or not, you’re going to have to choose a side. If your response is “We’re all Michigan fans..can’t we just get along?”, the answer is no. Some things in life and some things about being a Michigan alum are more important than sports.

[Klctlc]

You make my point. How do you know I am conservative? FYi, I am pro choice, fine with reasonable gun laws and believe Gay marriage is absolutely fine. I am fiscally conservative. I don’t know how I feel about the ban honestly. My first response is I wish he didn’t do it this way.

But you are all knowing and your feelings/opinions matter way more than mine. So go march or protest or whatever you do. But I believe you live in IL like me. Enjoy our democratic paradise. Penny an ounce on soft drinks, pensions that are totally unsustainable, voting districts that look like jigsaw pieces and incredible racism and neglect on the south and west sides.

[DonAZ]

I missed something … what happened over at MGoBlog? Was it a main-page content post by Brian that stated some political position? Or was it a forum post that touched on political issues and blew up with comments?

[DonAZ]

I see now … Twitter. Whatever.

[Klctlc]

Excellent discussion going on right now on Mgoblog regarding article about sportswriters. I think yesterday really touched a nerve for a lot of people.

[DonAZ]

I scanned through that, but I’m going to decline to participate.

FWIW, I’d prefer to the topic to remain off-limits in a sports discussion setting. In today’s climate, there’s very little profit in engaging the subject, particularly in a large-group setting such as an Internet forum.

(From a purely argumentative point of view, what often happens is people think they are arguing conclusions when what’s really going on is they haven’t settled premises. No argument towards conclusion can take place without first establishing the logical premises upon which the conclusions are built.)

[Thunder]

I have no delusions that I’ll be the top Michigan blog out there. It’s tough to do when it’s not your primary gig. As long as “that other site” (the one you’re referencing) keeps its doors open, I’ll be playing second fiddle, if not third. But I do think it’s a poor business choice to enter the political realm. There are outlets for my political thoughts, but this is not one of them.

As for you and others, I really don’t care whether you discuss politics here or not. I won’t support or allow hate speech, racial epithets, etc., but if people voice their political opinions, more power to them. Frankly, I don’t think we talk about politics enough in this country, partly because people get too emotional rather than sticking to the facts.

[Lanknows]

I mean you are probably right that TTB won’t be the most popular M blog but at least you give a damn and bring consistent day to day effort. Over time this is something that people notice and appreciate. Your site growing is a testament to that. Keep it up.

[WindyCityBlue]

Klctlc, I never said you were conservative, though frankly, the whole “I’m a fiscal conservative but a social liberal” dodge is pretty hollow and transparent. But your point seemed to be that you’s rather not have politics intruding into sports, and I’m just letting you know that we’re past the point where sports is enough of a common ground to paper over political differences.

Thunder can run his website as he sees fit, of course, and I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to keep it focussed on Michigan sports and free of politics, but in real life, in the big wide world, that’s no longer an option for anyone who gives a shit.

[Klctlc]

Fair enough. It is not hollow though it is who I am. Sometimes I feel Republican and sometimes I feel libertarian. It really is a struggle.

You make it feel like your view is pure and your cause is just. While the rest of us just put our heads in the sand. This view created trump. Bill Maher had a great piece on it just a day or two ago. Suggest you watch it or enjoy minority status for quite awhile.

[Lanknows]

I believe people are entitled to their varied opinions that do not fit neatly into one category. Bill Mahr is entitled to be a “liberal” while also being an overt bigot.

[INTJohn]

LOL well hmmmm……. one disadvantage to living in San Diego is I’m always 3 hours late to the breakfast party. lol (I’ll be back to Michigan April 1st)

Saw all this having not yet had my caffeine & ibuprofen & thought:
FUKT I jez read?? lol Soon thereafter, when the cobwebs caused primarily from the approximately gallon of gin I drank yesterday began to clear, and my several AM aches & pains began to dissipate I realized this must be bleed-over & overflow from whatever the fuk went on yesterday at MGOBORE………. lol

(Also, Thunder – maybe you could remove the word ‘Politics’ from the OP title and then make it a ‘Sticky’ to be ever used for all things Off Topic. LOL)

I’ve lurked for years at various Michigan Blogs and finally joined this 1 about a month ago. (I’ve been on FSU site “The Territory” for ever) MGoBore frankly, I think sucks. Yesterday for example at the time I chekt; of the 15 shown thread topiks only 3 had anything to do with UofM sports & only 5 had anything to do with UofM on any level. The other 10 I don’t recall except there was the always MGoBore customary Hollywood Celebrity OBituary. lol

When there is any Michigan Football news posted, the site always crashes – lol. Thats when I know there’s actually something worth reading but then I can find it somewhere else, too; if I’m not already aware.
Also, the threads – if they do start off with any substance of content generally digress into dumas/infantile 1 line drivel by post # 10 that have nothing to do with the topic…..

Theres my rant on MGoBore: I can’t tell them any of this cause I would have to ‘join’ the fuking site to do that. LOL

Time to pour anuther cup of coffee and then I’ll return and write about some Reel Politik!
As I See It………..INTJohn

[Lanknows]

I believe in right and wrong. You can call these opinions if you want. I call it civilization.

[Klctlc]

Deep. But the trick is the definition of right and wrong. That seems to be the problem. I assume your opinion is always right?

[Lanknows]

That’s up for debate.

If “Nobody is right” then “Nobody is wrong”. OK – people who rape children are wrong. You can disagree with that if you want – you are entitled to your opinion. That is mine.

There are certain common beliefs that we have to have to function as a civilized society. Just saying everything is opinion and nothing is right or wrong undoes that.

[Lanknows]

I would also disagree with your 40% will be alienated comment. While broadly true there are a lot of issue where that’s simply not the case. This is a tribalist view that has put this country into the divisive environment that we have. There’s a whole lot of stuff that 8o or 90% of this country agrees with. IT would be nice if we could focus on building around that instead of saying half of people will disagree with every ‘opinion’ out there.

[Lanknows]

What is cowardly about the other site’s “stance” is the timing of it. Brian could have stated this opinion in October or November and it would have been far more meaningful. Like it or not (and most of us here probably do not), Brian has a large following and significant influence – especially with the younger portion of the Michigan fanbase.

Everybody is entitled to their own breaking point I suppose, but the guy in office said he was going to do hateful things and he’s doing them. Brian is great when he writes with a passion. Apparently the Trump campaign didn’t illicit those feelings.

[Klctlc]

Lanknows,

I think we actually agree. Regarding common beliefs, but that is also too simplistic. We can probably both agree that racism in AMerica is a huge problem. African american kids in most inner cities do not have the same opportunity that white suburban kids do. Here in Chicago the segregation of the city was done by design and it has stayed in place for a long time. However, how we solve that is the dilemma one side appears to think free stuff works while the other side seems to think ignoring it is ok.

Sorry if i came off a little defensive. The 40% is a rough estimate but it is probably close. Either way it is a substantial portion of the customer base. However, your comment on Tribalist is spot on. I did not mean it in that regard but it sure could be construed that way. I am so sick of dividing us with ism’s.

[INTJohn]

Yes I’m a Mich alum: Masters Earth Sciences Engineering (special case) – go ahead I dare you to ask me what I think of “Fracking”……. My undergrad is Mathematics from Florida State.

Prior to my ‘Education’ – I grew up in foster homes & was never adopted. AT 13 my IQ was tested at 149 – age ratio method – yes at 13 I had the reading level of a college Junior and this was back in the days when college Jrs could actually still read.

At 18 I enlisted in the military where I served for years with the USAF pararescue teams as a Special Forces rescue & intelligence specialist: been thru 2 wars; several battles; 3 skirmishes; numerous recsue firefights, 23 countries, 4 continents. 83 jumps from perfectly good airplanes; Been blown out of the sky in 2 helicopters; had the shit shot of me twice; stabbed once and damn near blown to bits by a handgrenade. Been in a variety of settings scenes & cultures; lived in jungle villages and been to Embassy state dinners having seen and or experienced both the best and the worst of Humanity……..

Today I live a great life – I don’t know anyone on a personal level whose overall quality of life I would consider better than my own and I can’t even begin to count the persons both good & bad – who have helped to shape who & what I am for better and for worse I have a really good handle as to why much of the rest of The World hates Murahka.

I’m proud of the fact that I haven’t lowered myself to the level of American Human Rights Constitutional based Democratic Egalitarianism for over 25 years now. I’ll direct you to google George Carlin’s “Why I Don’t Vote”. LOL

For Americans today it isn’t enough to have an ignorant consience – one must arrogate it; be arrogant enough for it. Maybe i know America that I might even be able to share some truths. haha! This modern America certainly is no large population for fitness or health – physical or moral but it is a great place to be brainwashed & trained in a Nationalistic sense. It has squandered its strength and is nothing resembling any kind of a High Culture that Humanity might be capable of.

No; in my heart I renounced my US citizenship long ago; I care to be a Citizen of the Planet of Earth – without political or God Forbid – a belief in God! I’ve been accused by religious zealots of being an Atheist and I’ve been acused by Atheists as being a relgious zealot! – to funny. I just want to be one of the many animals on the planet struggling with a sense of special contentment.

Mostly I learned to affirm all of my life both good & bad – its how I know I’m still alive. I live and have lived a great life: materialistically, financially, educationally, professionaly, in terms of Lifes’ achievements, accomplishments & experiences and frankly I learned most of it from a Tribe of Little People in a far off surreal land in SE Asia a long long time ago who taught me what it means to be a Human Being. For a brash very very tough young man these were lessons not learned easily nor without great suffering but they are for me, today, an experience for which I am profoundly greatful.

No American Nationalistic Idealsim here on any level;
just Real Politik
As I live it……..INTJohn

[Klctlc]

Wow. I do not know where to begin. Amazing story and I am sure your life experiences give you a whole different perspective from an old white male who has lived his entire life in the midwest.

I don’t wear a tin foil hat, but I am student of history and I am pretty cynical of most governments. However, I am comfortable in my life and I am dealing the best I can with what we have in America.

Your opening comment does intrigue me. So I will bite. What do you think of fracking and one more question. 100 words or less ( kidding) What do you think of climate change? I will hang up and listen to your answer.

[INTJohn]

you did bite……haha.
A response to ‘Fracking’ is simple the rest I’ll get to in another post.

My opinion on Fracking: If she’s good looking she definitely should be fracked….. 🙂

IMHO………..INTJohn

[INTJohn]

(I like sarcastic/sardonic if not warped humor) OK a real answer on ‘fracking’ – sort of: you wrote you’re in the ‘midwest’. Are you in the Oklahoma region where The fracking is going on? everyday whenever I chek my seismic data We always get readings from central OK cause of the fracking going on there – haha. Nothing major stuff in the 1.5 to maybe 2.0 scale readings on the quake logs……

Fracking applications are more than just for oil. Thats what everyone hears about cause that is what makes the big emotional reactionary ‘news’. Fracking is used in geothermal applications as well – no one hears about this cause its not ‘BIG OIL’.

I’m not a moralist and don’t approach Life or Engineering from that perspective. Rather in terms of whats best in terms of overall Health; relative to Fracking with regard to ‘oil’- if its not fucking up the primary ground water aquifers in regions of large populations its generally a cheap, relatively speaking, and efficient way to ‘get the oil’. But Fracking has other very important uses that few are aware of; eg geothermal applications.

There is a lot of geothermal electrical production in SW Ca – Salton Sea area and South to the border and Mexico as well. The Earth’s crust is really thin in that area and there are really nice hot springs all over, too that peeps take advantage of. In order to get that hot water to the surface often times fracking is necessary to ‘prime the pump’ so to speak on the geothermal plant. That water is 600 to 800 degrees down there and as it rises and the pressure is lessoned, it turns to steam RAPIDLY; but before it can be used to move the turbines to generate electricity; all of the impurities, toxic, corrosive acids & metals must be removed otherwise it would make short work of the turbines – the steam water must be pure.

OK I went over board there; but fracking can good for this purpose especially in areas of low population anyway for electrical generation. Point is ‘fracking’ has more applications than simply ‘Big Oil’.

The fact that Murahka is still so addicted to oil is simply a product of its decadence and the Rest of the World is Rapidly getting weary with a spoiled country with 5% of the worlds population basically wasting most of the 25% of the Worlds annual energy production that the US uses. China & India are past dealing with the US on global energy use. 25 or 30 years from now it will come to a MAJOR head – if not before and frankly the spoiled US population needs a good civil awakening OR China & INdia will give it a good major league ASS KICKING 25ish years from now.

Back to Trump and his ‘Make Murahka Great Again’:
1 – what is definition of ‘Great’?
2 – then it precludes that America at some point in its past history had attained to whatever that definition is.
3 – then it assumes that America is no longer in that present state – what ever it was/is to begin with.
4 – Then the campaign slogan asserts that this ‘great state of being’ will be re-attained……..
5 – No condition/proposal/plan of feasible attainment is presented assuming as American voters evidently did; that they all knew what Great was/is; that they all knew & experienced it before; AND that there is some feasible way of reattaining it; but no one has put forth the feasibility plan; ad nausea. LOLOL!!

…….ahhnd thats why I drink gin and follow Michigan & Florida State sports for entertainment purposes and watch the whales & the dolphins.

as I pour nuther gin & tonic……….INTJohn

[Lebowitz33]

As a Jewish man whose parents immigrated from Russia I am so sickened. A precedent is being set. Soon they’ll try to take away affirmative action from blacks who built this country into what it is. The only reason this country has any culture is because we’ve stolen it from them. Next they’ll take away women’s right to have an abortion. I was in such a predicament once before and the woman decided to have one and that was her right. The man has no rights in that situation and they shouldn’t. I thought everyone knew these absolutes about immigrants, blacks, and women but i guess these racists won’t stop til they devour us all. It’s truly disgusting what is taking place. We as white men owe everything to immigrants, blacks, and women.

[GKblue]

“(I like sarcastic/sardonic if not warped humor)” Sometimes INTJohn I wonder if you are practicing Dudeism.

On the other hand your geothermal fracking discussion was first class.

[canzior]

Just to throw in my 2 cents. I think that a big question is: do you vote what’s best for the country, or your own self-interests. I can understand voting your own self interests. If you feel like abortion is the scourge of the earth, and you vote republican, then I get it. However…if you vote Republican because of abortion, but you are also on Obamacare, then it is your responsibility to educate yourself so that you know exactly what you’re voting for. I read an article about people regretting their vote and how they seem to be asking for pity, but if you vote in someone who has no experience and no sound political stance, you can’t be surprised or upset when he becomes the President that he advertised himself to be. I’m all for giving him a chance even though i didn’t vote for him. I think in the end, his downfall will be pissing everyone off, on both sides of the aisle. And if I can put my tin-foil hat on for a sec, I could easily see the Republicans getting him out and putting Pence in, which I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the plan all along.

[Thunder]

Whether it’s good or bad, there have been times that I refused to vote because I didn’t pay enough attention to politics at the time. I think an uninformed vote is worse than no vote at all. This past election was not one of those times, but when I was younger, I just wasn’t interested in politics.

[INTJohn]

Why not! I never ever thought that some meaningless entertaining football blog would inspire me to reveal some of my notes. but what the hell I love irony.

In the past 100 or so years the most cataclysmic events in Human history occurred: that being the ushering out of principally monarchal forms of government to be replaced by some form of Democratic based mutation.

Prior, Humanity had experienced some 10,000ish years of Monarchal Divine Right Patriarchal based forms of hereditary government. In the last century almost all of this was done away with to be replaced by some variant mutation of Democracy. Considering this took place in the span of a mere 100 years – no wonder as to the Cultural Storms that dominated the 20th Century.

Yes! given the 3 ‘Ideologies’ that came to the forefront in the 20th Century and the conflict & competition wrought by each for ‘dominance’ – at the end of the Century there is only one left standing: British Democratic Empiricism – not because it was ‘Great’ but because it was the only one to survive. Count this, however, no victory for Humanity but rather only an infantile growing pain; like the emergence of a child’s baby teeth; they have yet to be chewed with; they have yet to be pushed out by something growing internally that is perhaps a thousand years distant, but will be oh so much more permanent!

It took Humanity some 10000 years to rid itself of Patriarchal based Divine Right Monarchism – lets hope it doesn’t take anywhere near that long for it to outgrow its Human Rights Idealistic based Democratic Mutations. Talk about moving from one extreme to the other! From 1 person rule to ALL person Equal Vote & Equal Rights! HAHA!

IF Humanity is able to overcome its evolutional childhood diseases perhaps it can mature to a healthy reproductive species in its Natural Existence having cast aside its childhood Tooth Fairy fantasies and become a Healthy Mature Culturally sound and Life Affirming animal!

Maybe……. assuming it doesn’t first blow itself to Nuclear extinction……..Maybe

not even a preface; not even an introduction……….INTJohn
PS: 1 day till signing day – haha

[Klctlc]

C’mon you still have not told us your thoughts on climate change/global warming/population control.

Your posts on this topic are kind of like waiting for a john belushi skit on SNL circa 1978

[INTJohn]

Yeah talk about the principal failure of the World’s Religious structures (said structures also being the sociogenic foundations of the political structures); the area where the World’s religions have really failed Humanity is in the area of Population Control:

Thousands of years worth of ascetic like training/indoctrination & brainwashing and they still haven’t figured out how to keep all those lil virgins legs together…….

The problem was solved sort of regarding overpopulation several years back in a conversation with a friend from India who has PhD EE from MIT. The conversation went something like this:

7 billion people on the planet, right?. Right.
OK there’s like 2 billion Christians & about 2 billion Moslems. Now both groups generally pay a superficial Humanistic tolerating lip service to each other but when you boil the sap away neither of them like the other and both wish the other would disappear……..

So here’s the proposal:

You put the 2 billion Christians on the West side of Sahara and you put the 2 billion Moslems on the East side of Sahara – you know like 2 teams squaring off on a great big Football Field. Give both sides all the guns, ammo, tanks, planes, bombs, missles, etc they want and turn em loose – no food, no water, no nukes. In 3 maybe 4 days they are ALL where they say they want to spend Eternity anyway ahhhnd for those of us who like it here on Earth, we have Earth’s population down to 3 billion or so……

My MIT friend, he nod his head; OK, OK; I’m with ya John but ahhh wha u guna do about 1 billion Hindus?

Well, yeah; that might be a problem cause they believe they’re all coming back again, right? – soooo maybe we’re just stuck with them.

ain’t sayin; jez sayin…………INTJohn

[Klctlc]

Too Abstruse. Need more politically charged comments so I can tell you how wrong you are. But you are an excellent writer, kind of like Brian.

[INTJohn]

Who’s Brian? serious ? I dont know ‘Brian’…….is that a pseudonym? someone or something – I don’t get it. 🙁

If you’re referring to me as an excellent writer – no I’m not; not hardly. I have to conform to general rules of phonetic metaphor & it drains all of my creativity in terms of a written expression.

For example – oh first – I don’t do ‘right & wrong’; I care more about ‘whats real’ at least in terms of a Natural Pantheistic lean vs Whats Right or ‘True’ in an Idealistic Moral/Political sense. I could easily be described as Amoral…….. not that I would wear ‘it’ but I can be described that way.

Back to the Writing ‘For example’: here in Murahka, regarding its alphabet, I think it would be very helpful if ‘they’ would just drop the letter ‘C’. It performs no phonetic purpose that the letters K or S can’t handle; so I think we should just drop the letter C from writing at least in terms of its representations that K or S could easily pick up. Now one could propose to transfer phonetic responsibility of the sound ‘cha’ as in the word ‘chat’ ‘chit’ or ‘change’ to the letter ‘C’ seeing as we’ve taken its duties away regarding K & S. In that case I might be ok with keeping it in the alphabet – otherwise it should simply be done away with.

Also, I think major modifications should be made to writing across the board.
i.e a more phonetically correct form – to elaborate, the word phonetic – should be pronounced funetik – or sumthin simalur (bekawz we’ve goten rid uv the letur ‘C’ exsupt for kasiz with wurdz lyke Choke – whitc wud b speld coke. jest an egzampl…….

More funetik -this would make it much more easy to communicate at least in a written sense; probably leading to better clarification in a legal sense which would/could perhaps bleed over to a clearer solution to Political problems of various conflict.

Of course because of the Worlds numerous languages – if they too joined in it could start a written linguistically oriented Revolution that over time could evolutionally solve all of humanity’s problems not only on Earth but with out doubt Heaven as well.

IMHO………..INTJohn

[Anonymous]

Today politicians have not only a tweeter profile. They even have Instagram profiles, and they use something like https://zen-promo.com/follow_bot_instagram for promotion. It is one of the sides of the political influence.

[Author]

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