***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[rexanglorum]

I will admit that the Democratic Party certainly has the potential to be a far better vehicle for black uplift over the GOP. They have been that way for a while, despite the current state of affairs.

I'd even go as far as to admit that on paper their goals/initiatives/policies are much better for black uplift.

The issue is their seeming inability to translate the goals/initiatives into meaningful legislation. And while it is great to have a bunch of great ideas on paper, if they are incapable of playing politics to get the measures passed, then I think that it is better to be able to push for legislation through the other party.

I think you'd have to admit that Trump can strong-arm the Republicans in Congress to get legislation passed that might not be able to pass under a Democratic president.

Here's the thing, politics is transactional. IF Trump wanted to be a populist, in the real sense. If he wanted to be a president, who could take on global capitalism and the financial barons, and could confidently win a big majority of the electorate, things would be different.

Imagine Trump using his unique power and sway over the GOP to do a bipartisan voting rights act, economic stimulus, infrastructure project and the cost of it was fewer H1B visas, I'd have my reservations because I have solidarity with all workers of the world but that would be a good deal and many black people would support it as well.

Liberals trash the white working class for not "upskilling" and thus they deserve to not have a decent job and a smarter, more motivated Indian or Arab immigrant deserves that job. This perverse, anti solidaristic version of internationalism, has to also indict a majority of black Americans as well. It was and is still theoretically possible to build a sort of right wing sort of populist black-white-native born Hispanic coalition where the accident of being born in America is leveraged at the expense of the citizen-of-the world tech, financial and various other large firms which operate in the US and dole out many good mid level jobs to a very international, meritocratic work force (with the upper most management still being mostly America born WASPs who went to Wharton or Harvard or Stanford B School. It's curious how those people don't live in a flat world). Couple that with clemency and grace for the so-called low skilled immigrants from Latin America and you could have a synthesis of nationalism and multi racial populism. I would still prefer multi racial, international socialism but I'd be tempted to take the aforementioned deal.

For me, there are three deal breakers with Trump. His decision to militarize the border patrol and give ICE Carte Blanche (which was pretty bad before Trump became President). His willingness to accommodate voter suppression. His decision to abandon his economic populism that he espoused on the campaign trail.

All of his promises to harm people have been fulfilled and then some. All of his promises to help working people have not.

Given what Trump failed to do and is unable to do in building an American-worker first coalition. I have no choice but to support Joe Biden, imperialism and austerity and all.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Oh, I didn't even mention.

Most of the drugs that are banned are controlled substances. Athletes have to go through illegal routes to acquire these drugs.

So we just gonna just gonna be cool with all the felonious activity that gonna pop off because of this.

 

[IATT]

I get what you're saying but I promise you if they drug test how they actually should a vast majority of participants would get popped for something. All olympic athletes are pros too so they have just as much if not more incentive to use PEDs because its one every 4 years. Drugs and sports just go together.

Nah man.. I participated decently enough in both track and swimming to be able to represent my country in both internationally

yes a lot of people use drugs, but far from everyone does it.. and yes it takes a while to catch people and that’s unfortunate but they do eventually catch people

is it a perfect system, no.. are people going cheat, obviously

the money is in the drugs so the drugs are far ahead of the system.. but that’s why they keep things on file and go back and test and then strip people of whatever awards or recognition they would have previously received

but Russia was next level with it, to the point where if their athletes wanted to participate at the olympics, they had to do so under a blank banner

it’s kinda sad that that kinda triggered them doing all the stuff they did, like hacking the servers of both political parties in the US

Everybody already does it anyway, why waste the time chasing it? It doesn't give enough of a competitive advantage for someone to make it to a level they shouldn't already be at.

no man.. this ain’t it.. plus you don’t want to incentivize this stuff more than there already is

 

[IATT]

dwalk31

 

[ICE CITY CF]

no man.. this ain’t it.. plus you don’t want to incentivize this stuff more than there already is

Nah man I'm completely with you. Played my whole life until I wasn't up to standard. Then started coaching and it turned into a profession and I worked my way up that tree. I'm on the coaching staff of a minor league org now.

The assertion that most pro athletes are doping or using banned performance enhancers is objectively false. Anyone with any insight knows that much. The idea that we should allow doping on that fallacy alone is just stupid.

 

[frink85]

dwalk31

and he thinks Biden has dementia?! Dude is word salad personified, except its a taco salad with ketchup.

 

[IATT]

Nah man I'm completely with you. Played my whole life until I wasn't up to standard. Then started coaching and it turned into a profession and I worked my way up that tree. I'm on the coaching staff of a minor league org now.

The assertion that most pro athletes are doping or using banned performance enhancers is objectively false. Anyone with any insight knows that much. The idea that we should allow doping on that fallacy alone is just stupid.

sorry misread your post, my bad

 

[IATT]

Michigan candidate’s daughter urges people not to vote for him in viral tweet

The daughter of a candidate running for a seat in the Michigan state House has drawn viral attention online after taking to Twitter earlier this week to plead with voters not to elect her father&nb…

thehill.com

 

[Sharpshoeter13]

and he thinks Biden has dementia?! Dude is word salad personified, except its a taco salad with ketchup.

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[dacomeup]

I will admit that the Democratic Party certainly has the potential to be a far better vehicle for black uplift over the GOP. They have been that way for a while, despite the current state of affairs.

I'd even go as far as to admit that on paper their goals/initiatives/policies are much better for black uplift.

The issue is their seeming inability to translate the goals/initiatives into meaningful legislation. And while it is great to have a bunch of great ideas on paper, if they are incapable of playing politics to get the measures passed, then I think that it is better to be able to push for legislation through the other party.

I think you'd have to admit that Trump can strong-arm the Republicans in Congress to get legislation passed that might not be able to pass under a Democratic president.

Saying this but not addressing the white supremacy from the party you support that makes this a reality is unbelievably backwards.

 

[had pants]

 

[junglejim]

Just a reminder that Trump is trying to strip away the ACA during the middle of a pandemic. Look at this great health plan of his. I put the significant details below:
































-**** people with pre-existing conditions

 

[aepps20]

Delk

Just a reminder that Trump is trying to strip away the ACA during the middle of a pandemic.

Inexperience B. Delk will explain

 

[nerw32]

Everybody in pro sports doesn't dope.

I have no idea why you think this with such conviction.

Majority would be a better word. Millions of dollars on the line and you don’t think they are willing to do something extra? Doesn’t matter if it’s the olympics, baseball, basketball or the ufc way more pros are using some kind of PED than people want to believe.

 

[whywesteppin]

Just a reminder that Trump is trying to strip away the ACA during the middle of a pandemic. Look at this great health plan of his. I put the significant details below:

Fake news.

Everybody already has 6 months salary saved up, no need for redundant ACA.

 

[junglejim]

 

[DLF]

Fake news.

Everybody already has 6 months salary saved up, no need for redundant ACA.

Also ACA is useless now anyways since all hospitals and clinics are closed bc of shelter in place. Which of course was created by bill gates and the crooked left. It’s like paying for gym membership for a gym that’s not open

 

[whywesteppin]

Also ACA is useless now anyways since all hospitals and clinics are closed bc of shelter in place. Which of course was created by bill gates and the crooked left. It’s like paying for gym membership for a gym that’s not open

Now I know you're a faker! That's too clever a point for a TRUE American to make. No REAL American would make the almost valid argument that we shouldn't have to pay money to the big vision and dental insurance companies if all the clinics are closed.

To me this sounds like you're one of those LIBBIE SCUMS pretending to be one of us... But you just blew your cover, lib!

 

[nerw32]

Can't rock with this argument

Everyone is not doing it today, that is just an assumption people are making that is mostly because the cheaters that get caught always say this. However, there is no evidence "everyone is doing it" right now. And to prove such a thing you would need, guess what, widespread testing over a sustained period of time, with b-samples getting re-tested when new testing methods come along. So yeah, lots of time and effort. I do believe drug used is more rampant than the average sports fan realizes, without question, but I believe there would be a massive difference in drug usage if we moved to a system of no testing. "Everyone is doing it" is conjecture. Conjecture you need to act like is fact for your argument to work.

In a system with no testing you have major issues too:

First, you will incentize amatuer athletes to dope also, without doctor supervision, because they will feel they need it to dope to keep up. I will address the competitive advantage argument next. But what are we gonna do with all the amateur athletes that aspire to play professionally. You are basically telling them that at some point you have to dope because your peers are. doing it too. So are we gonna trust this young people to somehow hold off until they sign a pro contract. If you say test the amateurs, welp that would destroy you "why waste time" argument, because there are way more amatuer athletes than pros. So if we are gonna police young amtuer athletes, then we have the time to police older professionals.

Second, If we were to look at the most doping riddled sport in the last few decades it would probably be cycling. A sport I am weirdly a avid fan of. America's, and the world's, most famous doper is probably Lance Armstrong. Putting aside Lance Armstrong was ******* and sociopath, Armstrong was also a generational talent in cycling he was blowing away clean dudes his age before he went over to Europe. When he went over to Europe, damn near everyone doped, especially with EPO. The generational talent then was getting his *** handed to him. So Armstrong had a decision: either stay clean and struggle to make the final few roster spots on a team, leave the sport because he could not keep up, or dope to be competitive. He chose to dope and the rest is history. If doping doesn't make a difference, then why would a dude that was facing question about him doping ever since his first Tour de France win, a dude that was hounded constantly in press, continue to dope if it made no difference. The answer he gives.....is because all his major opponents were doping (most were) and if he didn't dope he would not win the Tour de France.

ut in the sport other talents flamed out, and other that chose to dope did so recklessly and actually killed themselves. Dudes in their 20s were having heart attacks and strokes because of EPO. All because there was system were first there was no test for EPO, or when there was a test could be easily beaten.

So people with talent will be forced to make the decision of either having to dope of having to he at a major competitive advantage. If an athlete wants to stay clean and compete at a high level, that option might be off the table for many.

You stop the anti-doping measures, with what is out there, the entire professional sports world will look like European cycling in the 90s, it won't stay at whatever status quo we have now. The microdosing and medical exemptions that go on today, with be replaced with athletes on numerous very dangerous ****.

Society sees participating and watching sports and one of our major leisure activities. And we should make the investment to protect the athletes that want to stay clean, and protect them from themselves.

So, getting rid of anti-doping measures is a bad idea.

Im familiar with how testing works. It's a waste of money, time energy and resources. What's the endgame a clean sport that armchair quarterbacks and uncle Ricos can feel good about? There would be little to no change if testing went away, a few more might jump onboard and use PEDs but overall those who want to use them already are.

Amateur athletes doping is a moot point, steroids are expensive as hell, Growth Hormone is even more expensive so Im not worried about a 16-year old spending $1500+ dollars a month on real growth hormone. Do you honestly believe a teenager is going to take the money they make from their part-time job and go buy all the PED's they can? They aren't going to get very far with a few hundred dollars.

So, Lance Armstrong did what everyone else did in order to be as competitive as everyone else. Nobody made him or any other cyclist do anything against their will right, they made that choice on their own. The people who are pros are freak of nature athletes already. So should one athlete be punished for having a higher lactate threshold than another athlete? Should athletes with a higher VO2max be penalized so it's fair for everyone else? Where do you draw the line at what is considered a competitive advantage? My lactic acid test might be 10 millimoles per liter and yours is 16, should we not compete against each other because my body filters lactate more efficiently than yours? It would be flat out STUPID for a person to attempt the Tour de France not on drugs, the long-term damage done to their body would be far more severe.

I love this misconception that PEDs make the athlete SOOOOO much better. You could be the best weekend warrior cyclist in the world and taking drugs isn't going to make you anything close to a pro cyclist. In general steroids do 1 of 2 things, they help you get stronger/recover faster or they are used for inflammation that's it. PEDs don't make you go from Joe Schmo to world class athlete. EPO is naturally occurs in the kidneys, so if one person's body produces more than the next athlete is that a competitive advantage?

PEDs can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing or if you take too much, just like anything. You can overdose and die on multivitamins. The stuff you get form some random dealer is vastly different than what you'd get at pharmacy. What's the difference between the NFL pumping players full of painkillers and opioids versus letting a guy take growth hormone to recover faster? The opioids are highly addictive and do far more damage to your body than a couple IUs of growth hormone or testosterone cypionate.

Pro athletes are hyper competitive by nature so when you add millions of dollars, their ego and a chance at a legacy that lasts forever odds are they are going to do whatever it takes. The ones who want to use are going to find a way no matter the parameters put in place. It's no coincidence that LeBron James lost a ton of muscle the same summer that the NBA changed its growth hormone testing policy. You don't lose 50 pounds in a 60 days unless something is wrong or you're coming off something.

Is HGH a Knick and NBA Problem?

In the summer of weight loss, is it coincidental, or could HGH be the source of change? Could the NBA have an emerging problem on its hands?

dailyknicks.com

 

[nerw32]

Nah man.. I participated decently enough in both track and swimming to be able to represent my country in both internationally

yes a lot of people use drugs, but far from everyone does it.. and yes it takes a while to catch people and that’s unfortunate but they do eventually catch people

is it a perfect system, no.. are people going cheat, obviously

the money is in the drugs so the drugs are far ahead of the system.. but that’s why they keep things on file and go back and test and then strip people of whatever awards or recognition they would have previously received

but Russia was next level with it, to the point where if their athletes wanted to participate at the olympics, they had to do so under a blank banner

it’s kinda sad that that kinda triggered them doing all the stuff they did, like hacking the servers of both political parties in the US



no man.. this ain’t it.. plus you don’t want to incentivize this stuff more than there already is

The Russia thing is weird all the way around. Forcing athletes to use is another thing entirely. But if given the choice and they choose to then so be it that's on them they are adults and can make that choice.

 

[dwalk31]

Saying this but not addressing the white supremacy from the party you support that makes this a reality is unbelievably backwards.

You say I don't address it despite me directly addressing topics such as voter suppression and mass incarceration.

I've spoken to the problematic nature of several issues.

I will say that many hand wave the blatant white supremacy from the party that you support. We see this with the crime bill legislation. I know, "that's different" "the congressional black caucus supported it too" "everyone was tough on crime" yada yada yada.

 

[hipstermike]

any stats on the NRA? hasnt membership been declining?