The New Lounge

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

DuckDevil said:
I’m curious, @Mac9192, can you tell me what would happen if the Fed listened to the President and lowered interest rates right now?

This shouldn’t be too hard a question for you to answer. I think it might be good for you to work through the consequences of such an action in this moment.

Sure there's consequences. What about the possibility of what lowered rates do to loans? Would someone benefit if the rate for a home loan dropped a half a point? Could it possibly lead to more spending?

I'm curious, do you not want to see the Fed drop the rates?

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
Sure there's consequences. What about the possibility of what lowered rates do to loans? Would someone benefit if the rate for a home loan dropped a half a point? Could it possibly lead to more spending?

I'm curious, do you not want to see the Fed drop the rates?

You’re almost there. Lower rates make borrowing cheaper, which encourages more borrowing and spending. But inflation is already well above the Fed’s 2% target. Cut rates now, demand increases and you put even more upward pressure on prices. You make inflation much worse.

Cutting rates is the worst thing the Fed could do right now, which is why they’re rightfully refusing the President. They’re saving him from himself because he’s stupid and doesn’t know what he’s doing. The unfortunate right move is probably to raise rates, and I think it’s only a matter of time before they have to do it.

@Mac9192, what do you think happens to inflation and interest rates if the Fed refuses to cut rates and Trump follows through on his threat to stop trading with countries we run trade deficits with?

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

Just for giggles, I did some playing around online to buy a new home for $300,000. You put 20% down (60k) on a 30 yr loan at 6.25%. Your payment would be roughly $1,477 a month. In interest, you'd pay about $292k, and when all said and done, you'd have paid $532k for your $300k house.

Same loan at 5.75%, and the same 20% (60k) down. Your payment would be $77 a month less, and you'd pay $264k in interest. When all said and done 30 years later, you'd have paid $504k for your $300k house.

The half a point saved you $28k. Would you take the 6.25 or 5.75% rate @DuckDevil?

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
Just for giggles, I did some playing around online to buy a new home for $300,000. You put 20% down (60k) on a 30 yr loan at 6.25%. Your payment would be roughly $1,477 a month. In interest, you'd pay about $292k, and when all said and done, you'd have paid $532k for your $300k house.

Same loan at 5.75%, and the same 20% (60k) down. Your payment would be $77 a month less, and you'd pay $264k in interest. When all said and done 30 years later, you'd have paid $504k for your $300k house.

The half a point saved you $28k. Would you take the 6.25 or 5.75% rate @DuckDevil?

Your hypothetical is exactly the point. Of course you would rather have a 5.75% mortgage than a 6.25% mortgage. But the Fed doesn’t lower rates to make your mortgage cheaper.

Lower rates make borrowing cheaper across the economy. People and businesses borrow and spend more. That increases demand. Inflation is already above the 2% target, so increasing demand in this climate increases inflation and makes everything more expensive. Keeping rates too low for too long is part of how we got here in the first place.

That’s why cutting rates right now will make the problem worse. You might save money on the mortgage in your hypothetical but you’ll be paying much more for everything else. And, when inflation keeps rising, the Fed would have to raise rates anyway. Much higher than they would have had they never cut rates.

Higher rates are painful, but when inflation is too high, reducing borrowing and spending is how the Fed tries to bring it under control.

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

Are you out here in the real world to see how much things are? You’re acting like lowering rates will drive prices up for the first time ever.

I know you don’t like Trumo, but he’s smarter than you’re giving him credit for.

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
Are you out here in the real world to see how much things are? You’re acting like lowering rates will drive prices up for the first time ever.

I know you don’t like Trumo, but he’s smarter than you’re giving him credit for.

Let’s make this really simple.

Things cost too much. Prices are still rising too fast.

You want to make borrowing cheaper so people borrow more money and buy more things.

More people trying to buy things means more demand. More demand when prices are already rising too fast pushes prices even higher.

So your solution to things costing too much is to do something that makes them cost even more.

Do you understand the problem now?

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 4, 2026

KDSTONE said:
So when you think of the slave trade, do you think of white plantation owners( Django unchained) or Islamic slave owners? Still exists in the Muslim world by the way. Even in… Gaza (gasp). So if you’re a slave would it really matter what race your captor is? Well, our educational system thinks it matters a great deal. They report on part of the slave trade extensively and ignore the other completely so there’s that.

The former. Isn't it more logical for a study of slavery to emphasize the most relevant to your own country?

Why does that make conservatives defensive and start pointing fingers to slavery elsewhere, like anyone has the bandwidth to address every last thing?

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 4, 2026

KDSTONE said:
Sometimes I do. It just gets exhausting after a while honestly. This board used to be fun and I come on and it’s Israel this and Israel that. Criticism of any nation is fair game, as long as standards are applied consistently and objectively. No one on this board ever expresses the least bit concern how gays or women are treated over much of the globe, or the concentration camps in China, the dissidents killed in Iran every day. At some point, Why ?
Why? Where is this passion coming from? Thousands of Nigerians are killed every month. In peacetime No one seems to care. No protests. No ribbons at the Oscars.

Again, we know more and care more about our own backyard. When instead of acknowledging the nearby problems you bring up problems on the other side of the world that get way less media attention, it feels like a deflection. Its not like you're bringing up slaughtered Nigerians regularly.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 4, 2026

dukesince91 said:
I agree. The liberals are the biggest virtue signalers there are. I remember driving through Davidson and seeing lots of signs in people’s yards such as George Floyd, BLM, and the rainbow flag. It’s all for appearances only.

You can't even credit us with sincerity.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
We have a few delusional posters on here. Duckey and Haywood are the new breed of the left. You can tell they're younger than Datt and Boogie. More dangerous with their thinking too. To be worse than the older two is a scary thought. The scarier part? There will be some coming along in a few years that are even worse than these two kids. Our two newer posters are they byproducts of tolerance. They've been given a voice, and spew way too much lunacy. I get that everyone is allowed a voice, but when the person is allowed to say unhinged and scary things, and gets to vote? God pray for all of us.

Twenty five years ago next Friday is the sad anniversary of 9/11. I fully believe if that happened now, there would be defenders of the terrorists by a few on here. Look at who the mayor is of NYC. He is nothing more than the result of that word 'tolerance' that's been shoved down our throats over time. He would have never been elected fifteen years ago.

I thought we agreed not to respond or speak each other's name.

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

DuckDevil said:
Let’s make this really simple.

Things cost too much. Prices are still rising too fast.

You want to make borrowing cheaper so people borrow more money and buy more things.

More people trying to buy things means more demand. More demand when prices are already rising too fast pushes prices even higher.

So your solution to things costing too much is to do something that makes them cost even more.

Do you understand the problem now?

What you're saying will happen if the rates drop isn't guaranteed. Neither is what I'm saying. Stop though with acting like you're an expert.

Do you by chance own your home, or do you rent? And what about a car?

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
I thought we agreed not to respond or speak each other's name.

Sorry Datt. Slipped my mind. Happens every now and then.

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
What you're saying will happen if the rates drop isn't guaranteed. Neither is what I'm saying. Stop though with acting like you're an expert.

Do you by chance own your home, or do you rent? And what about a car?

This is basic supply and demand. It ain’t hard to understand. I’ve explained it to you as simply as I possibly can, and you still can’t grasp it.

Reading your responses and watching you struggle with even the most basic stuff makes it pretty easy to understand why this country is in so much trouble.

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

DuckDevil said:
This is basic supply and demand. It ain’t hard to understand. I’ve explained it to you as simply as I possibly can, and you still can’t grasp it.

Reading your responses and watching you struggle with even the most basic stuff makes it pretty easy to understand why this country is in so much trouble.

Haha. If only everyone would just bow down to your superior knowledge. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

In the meantime, it's been a day since you've posted gas prices.

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
Haha. If only everyone would just bow down to your superior knowledge. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

In the meantime, it's been a day since you've posted gas prices.

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

The 18 American service members killed and 790 wounded in Iran so far are just “small potatoes” to the president.

BOOGIEMAN1914 · Sep 4, 2026

DuckDevil said:
The 18 American service members killed and 790 wounded in Iran so far are just “small potatoes” to the president.

What's the legitimacy to the fallen soldiers families not receiving their full death benefits because the administration is calling this an "operation" and not a war...??

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

BOOGIEMAN1914 said:
What's the legitimacy to the fallen soldiers families not receiving their full death benefits because the administration is calling this an "operation" and not a war...??

I’m not super familiar with all the details, but from what I’ve read, I think it’s about the combat related benefits, not the normal death benefits soldiers would receive. At least one of the widows was initially told she couldn’t receive those benefits because the Iran conflict hadn’t been officially designated as a war.

The Air Force has since said that initial information was wrong and that her husband was eligible. I think he was one of pilots that died in the crash in Iraq. The additional money she was due had already been included in the pay she received or something to that effect.

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Dang, this is exactly how I imagined @Mac9192 in my head.

BOOGIEMAN1914 · Sep 4, 2026

DuckDevil said:
I’m not super familiar with all the details, but from what I’ve read, I think it’s about the combat related benefits, not the normal death benefits soldiers would receive. At least one of the widows was initially told she couldn’t receive those benefits because the Iran conflict hadn’t been officially designated as a war.

The Air Force has since said that initial information was wrong and that her husband was eligible. I think he was one of pilots that died in the crash in Iraq. The additional money she was due had already been included in the pay she received or something to that effect.

That's correct....combat

Mac9192 · Sep 4, 2026

Here’s @DuckDevil fighting for ‘the cause.’

Love the nose ring Duckey.

DuckDevil · Sep 4, 2026

Mac9192 said:
Here’s @DuckDevil fighting for ‘the cause.’

Love the nose ring Duckey.

Sick burn, @Mac9192!

Live look at @Mac9192 hitting the boards…

Mac9192 · Sep 6, 2026

We just have to keep tolerating.

dukesince91 · Sep 7, 2026

Mac9192 said:
We just have to keep tolerating.

Mac like I mentioned before, the white man in the United States has become the villain. Especially, any white male over 50 years old. My father called this about 25 years ago. He’s been deceased for 21 years. It’s sad that Democratic males fall for what the media says hook, line, and sinker. For some of our democratic posters here that seem to be very educated, they have blinders own. Hopefully all of us males over 40 will come out and vote in the midterms for the Republicans.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 8, 2026

dukesince91 said:
Mac like I mentioned before, the white man in the United States has become the villain. Especially, any white male over 50 years old. My father called this about 25 years ago. He’s been deceased for 21 years. It’s sad that Democratic males fall for what the media says hook, line, and sinker. For some of our democratic posters here that seem to be very educated, they have blinders own. Hopefully all of us males over 40 will come out and vote in the midterms for the Republicans.

54yo white man here. Throw in Christian, cis, heterosexual, hair-privileged, and "very educated," too. I don't feel villainized. Or rather, I know I'm not a villain so on the occasions when someone tries to use my demographics to demonize me, I don't get defensive, which is the best way to demonstrate you're not a villain. The worst thing you can do in that situation is get defensive and argue about it. It doesn't take much to hear someone out, and it speaks more loudly about who you are than anything you could actually say.

Is it only the "other" people who fall for things? Do Republicans and conservatives ever fall for anything? I think it's true that sometimes you don't see the things you yourself are falling for, but it's also reasonable to be skeptical of antagonistic people who try to point it out.

dukesince91 · Sep 8, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
54yo white man here. Throw in Christian, cis, heterosexual, hair-privileged, and "very educated," too. I don't feel villainized. Or rather, I know I'm not a villain so on the occasions when someone tries to use my demographics to demonize me, I don't get defensive, which is the best way to demonstrate you're not a villain. The worst thing you can do in that situation is get defensive and argue about it. It doesn't take much to hear someone out, and it speaks more loudly about who you are than anything you could actually say.

Is it only the "other" people who fall for things? Do Republicans and conservatives ever fall for anything? I think it's true that sometimes you don't see the things you yourself are falling for, but it's also reasonable to be skeptical of antagonistic people who try to point it out.

Just open your eyes Datt. More Republicans call out their mistakes much more than the Democrats. Democrats slurp up anything their side suggests. I saw where Trump is considering paying stay at home moms. I don’t like that one bit, I’m sure you do. That would just be another step towards socialism to me.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 8, 2026

dukesince91 said:
Just open your eyes Datt. More Republicans call out their mistakes much more than the Democrats. Democrats slurp up anything their side suggests. I saw where Trump is considering paying stay at home moms. I don’t like that one bit, I’m sure you do. That would just be another step towards socialism to me.

You're assuming it's merely a matter of opening our eyes, as if having them closed is the problem. I mean, don't you recognize that people with their eyes open still see things differently? Wouldn't it be boring if that wasn't the case?

Yeah, we all see the nuance on our own side better than on the other side. It should be no surprise that I see the GOP as more prone to slurping. Not gonna argue about it.

I'd need to look into the proposal to pay sahm before forming an opinion... or I can just take your word for it that I support it.

Mac9192 · Sep 8, 2026

dukesince91 said:
More Republicans call out their mistakes much more than the Democrats. Democrats slurp up anything their side suggests. I saw where Trump is considering paying stay at home moms. I don’t like that one bit, I’m sure you do. That would just be another step towards socialism to me.

We have all believed at some point in our lives that those reporting the news are fair. Most on the right have come to believe we've been lied to, and for a long time as well. Fox is slanted to favor conservatives, no doubt. But they are closer to the truth than the other msm sites.

Those on the left still follow lockstep with who they get their news from, even when there's been proof of how corrupt they are.

dukesince91 · Sep 8, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
You're assuming it's merely a matter of opening our eyes, as if having them closed is the problem. I mean, don't you recognize that people with their eyes open still see things differently? Wouldn't it be boring if that wasn't the case?

Yeah, we all see the nuance on our own side better than on the other side. It should be no surprise that I see the GOP as more prone to slurping. Not gonna argue about it.

I'd need to look into the proposal to pay sahm before forming an opinion... or I can just take your word for it that I support it.

I wasn’t assuming anything. I just don’t believe you’re a free thinker. I believe you gobble up everything the left says just like Lil Ducky. You say you’re a Christian, do you support abortion and up to full term? Do you support drag queens reading to our young children? Do you support minors transitioning without parents permission? Are you a big supporter of the LGBTQ… community? Do you think same sex marriages are what God had in his design of man kind? If so, you might want to read your Bible more closely. I believe all that stuff is pure evil.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 8, 2026

dukesince91 said:
I wasn’t assuming anything. I just don’t believe you’re a free thinker. I believe you gobble up everything the left says just like Lil Ducky. You say you’re a Christian, do you support abortion and up to full term? Do you support drag queens reading to our young children? Do you support minors transitioning without parents permission? Are you a big supporter of the LGBTQ… community? Do you think same sex marriages are what God had in his design of man kind? If so, you might want to read your Bible more closely. I believe all that stuff is pure evil.

I don't see any opening for further discussion.

dukesince91 · Sep 8, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
I don't see any opening for further discussion.

Then quit replying to me, since you’re going to bow out. I didn’t think you could honestly answer those questions. That tells me everything I need to know.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 9, 2026

dukesince91 said:
Then quit replying to me, since you’re going to bow out. I didn’t think you could honestly answer those questions. That tells me everything I need to know.

I could honestly answer each and every one of those questions. You can't very well mock my education and academic tone on the one hand, then really think I'm somehow at a loss for words on the other. My answering would also "tell [you] everything you need to know," just like anything I do. Say it. Don't say it. It's all the same. Your mind is made up. Anything I say -- or don't say -- will be twisted into "everything [you] need to know." Why waste my time addressing those questions instead of addressing what I want to instead?

You really think Jesus would be on the side of so-called "law & order" and not with the marginalized. Not a question.

Southern evangelicals overwhelmingly supported Roe v Wade when it passed. Look it up. The Southern Baptist Convention of 1972 or 1973 voted to support it for the sake of the mother's health. What changed? Jerry Falwell & the always ironically named "Moral Majority." He used his TV platform to turn it into baby-murdering torture porn for conservatives and created the unholy marriage of conservative evangelism and the Republican Party. It's laughable when you tell me I don't think for myself when your entire worldview on social issues owes its very existence to a divisive tv preacher. An entire region, an entire section of Christianity, felt otherwise based on Biblical interpretation & application before a tv shyster changed their minds. One of the most successful ad campaigns in American history and conservatives bought every bit of it.

No one is a completely free thinker. Show me the person who completely rejects the values they were raised to believe and there's just a little more digging required to see who/what else "indoctrinated" them. We're all heavily influenced by our environment. Even within a single family, one child's "golden child" status and another child's "black sheep" rep are directly related to however they were raised.

And no one is a complete sheep. We all process things for ourselves, through our own brains, and come to understand it in our own way. A former coworker once told me about teaching a class while heavily medicated for a cold, and only realizing as a result of parent emails that evening that they had accidentally taught a class that there were 365º in a circle. Those kids' misunderstanding that day was the result of incorrect teaching. They were, in a sense, "brainwashed" with misinformation. Once corrected, they were "brainwashed" with correct information, which subsequently became their own personal lifelong knowledge moving forward. Some of them may have gone on to be mathematicians or architects or whatever other highly skilled profession deals with circles and angles, all with their own thorough competency. Our greatest thinkers start out being taught. Our poorest thinkers still process things individually.

But there's never any "both sides" when it comes to this. No, it's always your side who is somehow magically & uniquely able to see through the propaganda and deception of the dreaded mainstream media, and always the other side who aren't able to think for themselves. 100%, 0%. All or nothing. One extreme or another extreme. No nuance. No gray area. No pause or humility or self-reflection, introspection, uncertainty, curiosity. Just rigid, static, vehement so-called knowledge and the arrogance that y'all are the only ones who get it.

And this absolutely applies to me, as well. I forget to keep learning, too. I have arrogance, too. But tell me more about how I don't think for myself, how I don't call out my own imperfection, how I just gobble up everything msm feeds me.

Now reply smugly to one word or phrase I used and ignore everything else.

dukesince91 · Sep 9, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
I could honestly answer each and every one of those questions. You can't very well mock my education and academic tone on the one hand, then really think I'm somehow at a loss for words on the other. My answering would also "tell [you] everything you need to know," just like anything I do. Say it. Don't say it. It's all the same. Your mind is made up. Anything I say -- or don't say -- will be twisted into "everything [you] need to know." Why waste my time addressing those questions instead of addressing what I want to instead?

You really think Jesus would be on the side of so-called "law & order" and not with the marginalized. Not a question.

Southern evangelicals overwhelmingly supported Roe v Wade when it passed. Look it up. The Southern Baptist Convention of 1972 or 1973 voted to support it for the sake of the mother's health. What changed? Jerry Falwell & the always ironically named "Moral Majority." He used his TV platform to turn it into baby-murdering torture porn for conservatives and created the unholy marriage of conservative evangelism and the Republican Party. It's laughable when you tell me I don't think for myself when your entire worldview on social issues owes its very existence to a divisive tv preacher. An entire region, an entire section of Christianity, felt otherwise based on Biblical interpretation & application before a tv shyster changed their minds. One of the most successful ad campaigns in American history and conservatives bought every bit of it.

No one is a completely free thinker. Show me the person who completely rejects the values they were raised to believe and there's just a little more digging required to see who/what else "indoctrinated" them. We're all heavily influenced by our environment. Even within a single family, one child's "golden child" status and another child's "black sheep" rep are directly related to however they were raised.

And no one is a complete sheep. We all process things for ourselves, through our own brains, and come to understand it in our own way. A former coworker once told me about teaching a class while heavily medicated for a cold, and only realizing as a result of parent emails that evening that they had accidentally taught a class that there were 365º in a circle. Those kids' misunderstanding that day was the result of incorrect teaching. They were, in a sense, "brainwashed" with misinformation. Once corrected, they were "brainwashed" with correct information, which subsequently became their own personal lifelong knowledge moving forward. Some of them may have gone on to be mathematicians or architects or whatever other highly skilled profession deals with circles and angles, all with their own thorough competency. Our greatest thinkers start out being taught. Our poorest thinkers still process things individually.

But there's never any "both sides" when it comes to this. No, it's always your side who is somehow magically & uniquely able to see through the propaganda and deception of the dreaded mainstream media, and always the other side who aren't able to think for themselves. 100%, 0%. All or nothing. One extreme or another extreme. No nuance. No gray area. No pause or humility or self-reflection, introspection, uncertainty, curiosity. Just rigid, static, vehement so-called knowledge and the arrogance that y'all are the only ones who get it.

And this absolutely applies to me, as well. I forget to keep learning, too. I have arrogance, too. But tell me more about how I don't think for myself, how I don't call out my own imperfection, how I just gobble up everything msm feeds me.

Now reply smugly to one word or phrase I used and ignore everything else.

You never answered a question. You just blabbered about a tv minister and something a sick teacher did by accident. Then you had to defend yourself to be a free thinker. I never mentioned law and order, but you had to state what you think Jesus would feel about it. You did say you were arrogant, which I whole heartedly agree with. Just answer each question, a simple yes or no would suffice. You have to try to prove how intelligent you are with every post you make.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 9, 2026

dukesince91 said:
You never answered a question.

Correct. As I said up front, "I could honestly answer... [but] Why waste my time [given the circumstances]?"

dukesince91 said:
You just blabbered about a tv minister and something a sick teacher did by accident.

There is a point to the facts I shared related to abortion history and Falwell: conservative evangelicals once supported abortion and did so using Biblical principles, so your insinuation that being Christian and supporting abortion are incompatible is neither objectively nor historically correct. Note that that is not an endorsement nor a condemnation of either pro-life or pro-choice stances on abortion, just an ironclad refutal of the insinuation that there is a Biblical absolute.

There is a point to my anecdote about my former colleague's goof: we are all taught, for better or worse, and we all acquire knowledge and misinformation from elsewhere and become owners of it ourselves. No one is a 100% independent thinker and no one is a 100% sheep.

dukesince91 said:
Then you had to defend yourself to be a free thinker.

I pointed out that no one is a 100% free thinker nor a 100% sheep, and I defended you as a free thinker as much as I defended myself.

dukesince91 said:
I never mentioned law and order, but you had to state what you think Jesus would feel about it.

I never claimed you mentioned it. I used quotations as a reference to the popular conservative mantra of "law and order" and to dissent from the accuracy of it.
If you deny that Jesus stood up for the oppressed and marginalized against the establishment and the status quo, feel free to elaborate. Otherwise, I submit that it is fact, not merely what I think Jesus would do.

dukesince91 said:
You did say you were arrogant, which I whole heartedly agree with.

Of course you do. Do you acknowledge your own arrogance? Talking about the corruption of politicians on both sides of the aisle is a popular refrain here when it's convenient... how about now? Do you apply a "both sides" argument to arrogance, to free-but-influenced thinking, to Caprinae-family behavior? Or is it all one way?

dukesince91 said:
Just answer each question, a simple yes or no would suffice.

No. I will not. I explained that in the first paragraph of my last response: "Anything I say -- or don't say -- will be twisted... Why waste my time addressing those questions instead of addressing what I want to instead?"

dukesince91 said:
You have to try to prove how intelligent you are with every post you make.

When a tall person walks by, are they "try[ing] to prove" how tall they are, or are they just existing as they are in the world while getting from Point A to Point B? I'm expressing thoughts and getting from Point A to Point B, not trying to prove anything about myself. I'm confident in the level of intellect I have and very aware of my intellectual limitations, as well. The point is the content of what I say, not some reflection on me.

dukesince91 · Sep 9, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
Correct. As I said up front, "I could honestly answer... [but] Why waste my time [given the circumstances]?"

There is a point to the facts I shared related to abortion history and Falwell: conservative evangelicals once supported abortion and did so using Biblical principles, so your insinuation that being Christian and supporting abortion are incompatible is neither objectively nor historically correct. Note that that is not an endorsement nor a condemnation of either pro-life or pro-choice stances on abortion, just an ironclad refutal of the insinuation that there is a Biblical absolute.

There is a point to my anecdote about my former colleague's goof: we are all taught, for better or worse, and we all acquire knowledge and misinformation from elsewhere and become owners of it ourselves. No one is a 100% independent thinker and no one is a 100% sheep.

I pointed out that no one is a 100% free thinker nor a 100% sheep, and I defended you as a free thinker as much as I defended myself.

I never claimed you mentioned it. I used quotations as a reference to the popular conservative mantra of "law and order" and to dissent from the accuracy of it.
If you deny that Jesus stood up for the oppressed and marginalized against the establishment and the status quo, feel free to elaborate. Otherwise, I submit that it is fact, not merely what I think Jesus would do.

Of course you do. Do you acknowledge your own arrogance? Talking about the corruption of politicians on both sides of the aisle is a popular refrain here when it's convenient... how about now? Do you apply a "both sides" argument to arrogance, to free-but-influenced thinking, to Caprinae-family behavior? Or is it all one way?

No. I will not. I explained that in the first paragraph of my last response: "Anything I say -- or don't say -- will be twisted... Why waste my time addressing those questions instead of addressing what I want to instead?"

When a tall person walks by, are they "try[ing] to prove" how tall they are, or are they just existing as they are in the world while getting from Point A to Point B? I'm expressing thoughts and getting from Point A to Point B, not trying to prove anything about myself. I'm confident in the level of intellect I have and very aware of my intellectual limitations, as well. The point is the content of what I say, not some reflection on me.

The reason you refuse to answer the questions I asked is because some would not align with your Democratic Party. That in itself makes you a sheep. I’ve stated that there’s lots of things the Republican Party has done that I’m against. You say that don’t want to waste your time answering the questions, but you spend more time deflecting. That’s laughable.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 9, 2026

dukesince91 said:
The reason you refuse to answer the questions I asked is because some would not align with your Democratic Party. That in itself makes you a sheep. I’ve stated that there’s lots of things the Republican Party has done that I’m against. You say that don’t want to waste your time answering the questions, but you spend more time deflecting. That’s laughable.

I've explained why I didn't answer multiple times now. You're rejecting that answer in favor of your own narrative about me. That pretty much proves what I said about why I wouldn't answer: "Anything I say -- or don't say -- will be twisted into [whatever you want]."

I'm not a Democrat. I think they are too conservative. I've been over this.

I've stated more than once now that everyone has been led -- like sheep -- and everyone processes information and understands it on their own -- not sheep. I'm absolutely open to the possibility of times when I am sheep-like, but you have not identified such a time.

Not only will I not waste my time answering your questions from before, I won't even scroll back up to remind myself what they were in order to makes sense of how they don't align with some Democratic Party platform I'm not beholden to anyway. What a bizarre conclusion for you to draw.

Yes, you've stated that there are those things where you disagree with the GOP without actually naming them. And you don't need to. I trust that's true without examples. I'm sorry you refuse to extend the same benefit of the doubt.

I said I won't waste my time answering your questions, and I explained why multiple times, including at the very beginning of this reply.

dukesince91 · Sep 9, 2026

Ghost of Dattier said:
I've explained why I didn't answer multiple times now. You're rejecting that answer in favor of your own narrative about me. That pretty much proves what I said about why I wouldn't answer: "Anything I say -- or don't say -- will be twisted into [whatever you want]."

I'm not a Democrat. I think they are too conservative. I've been over this.

I've stated more than once now that everyone has been led -- like sheep -- and everyone processes information and understands it on their own -- not sheep. I'm absolutely open to the possibility of times when I am sheep-like, but you have not identified such a time.

Not only will I not waste my time answering your questions from before, I won't even scroll back up to remind myself what they were in order to makes sense of how they don't align with some Democratic Party platform I'm not beholden to anyway. What a bizarre conclusion for you to draw.

Yes, you've stated that there are those things where you disagree with the GOP without actually naming them. And you don't need to. I trust that's true without examples. I'm sorry you refuse to extend the same benefit of the doubt.

I said I won't waste my time answering your questions, and I explained why multiple times, including at the very beginning of this reply.

You’re the one here that twist things here to fit your own narrative. I asked about four simple questions and you could only answer one. You say you won’t waste your time, but you sure as heck will write an essay explaining not wasting your time. Lol

DuckDevil · Sep 9, 2026

And of course Trump is financially benefiting personally from the war. The grift never stops.

Meanwhile, while oil prices and the cost of everything else continues to rise, this is type of messaging the White House is putting out in the run up to midterms:

And some of you guys still don’t see the absolute wipeout Republicans are about to suffer this Fall. Pure delusion at this point.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 9, 2026

dukesince91 said:
You’re the one here that twist things here to fit your own narrative. I asked about four simple questions and you could only answer one. You say you won’t waste your time, but you sure as heck will write an essay explaining not wasting your time. Lol

I'm not twisting anything here. You are. In that very post, for example, you again claim I said I won't waste my time without including the very specific thing I said I wouldn't waste my time doing. Clearly I will waste time in general.
The part of my post you're replying to was me quoting myself from earlier because you just demonstrated the very twisting I was referring to.

Ghost of Dattier · Sep 9, 2026

DuckDevil said:
And some of you guys still don’t see the absolute wipeout Republicans are about to suffer this Fall. Pure delusion at this point.

I don't wanna jinx it, though. We've seen him escape too many times.

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