tobetrained

@tallslenderguy wrote, in part: "1). From what i have seen, Trump is not true to his word on this one. He speaks of wanting Greenland and Canada. That sounds a lot like "nation building" to me. He stated frequently that he'd end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. i honestly cannot tell what he wants to do. To me, he continually contradicts himself on this question, and at the very least, over estimates his ability to keep his word." This is an issue which I can go on FAR too long (SORRY!). And I fully support our involvement. Yes, he said that and thought too much of his "relationship" with Putin. but while Biden played the carrot-card, Trump is playing the stick. Initially with Ukraine but more with the Europeans. Here's a Newsweek article which sums up the spending by the EU on Russian energy, and this is beyond their below-NATO spending commitments to self-defense. [think before following links] https://www.newsweek.com/russia-trump-oil-europe-2039731 He first negotiated -- in his bloviated way -- with Europe to start spending on defense. Even after more than 3 years of war in Ukraine, most European countries in NATO are not at 2% of GDP spend on defense, which was their commitment -- some of that could have been sent over to Ukraine. He's got commitments for 5% (by 2030, i think). Now, he's working on them to stop buying Russian energy. The EU, as noted in the article above -- with reputable sources, has spent over 200 billion Euros on Russian energy since the start of the war, more than sent in aide to Ukraine. They are literally helping to fund Russia's war effort. Trump is playing hardball with them now to stop that. Ukraine has actually had to maintain some Russian energy pipelines (to Europe) through their territory to placate the Europeans while being bombed continuously by Russia. Again, ultimately, this is hardball negotiations with Europe, not Ukraine, to get it's act together. The EU + UK is collectively strong enough to defend itself and neighbors from aggressors. But they've chosen to be weak. We can support them but should not be expected to do it all. And we have allies in east Asia to help too -- who do well in their own self-defense, namely Japan and South Korea -- where are the Europeans on that! China is much more formidable than Russia. I give Trump and "passing+" grade. I want us to do more but I get the bigger picture with the Europeans.

@meetme agreed. people do it for the titillation of risk -- but that's the issue: there's a downside to "risky", who knew? But to @topblkmale's original post, in general, no where in the convo or in public discourse is why this is targeting gay people. As a former New Yorker, when busing of migrants was a thing (from TX, etc), that area was a dumping ground and the hotel next door used to house some of those people. But around it, for a time, were many others illegal immigrants without accommodations. Penn Station is also still cover for many here illegally given the free services (e.g., bathrooms, public wifi, etc.). Activists sound alarms for anything -- it's how they justify their existence, make money, and grow their social media foot print. It doesn't make it true. Gay people may have been part of the roundup, but it doesn't make them a target for that reason.

I'm throwing this question out there as a topic conversation given changes I see both online and in-person. Please be respectful of everyone else's choice. I've left this open for a month.

It's a tough thing to determine, even with metrics. Take immigration: he is trying to do something at a scale other Presidents have not -- your personal politics will determine if that's a good or bad thing he can say more would be done if Democratic mayors and governors would help -- your politics will determine if you support their effort or not What's true is that the number of people trying to get here has absolutely plummeted, work done in concert with countries across Latin America to slow such traffic through the southern border as well as a the threat of simply being returned to country of origin. It was widely reported illegal crossing across that border hit a 50+ year low just two days ago (10/7). But again, your personal politics will determine if that's a good or bad thing -- and they will influence what you think is an acceptable metric/norm/result. I assume his supporters are mostly content with the effort to-date, given options available. But his baggage is just so high, and he's an oligarch. I gave him credit, as said elsewhere, for taking (most) Europeans countries and Canada to task for not living up their NATO commitments. Many don't realize, over recent decades, this amounts to hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of Euros of funds not spent on their own defense, per said agreement. Ukraine would be not just better defended but actually well defended if Europe had lived up to those commitments. I'll add here, I give Biden credit for holding the alliance together in the first place in 2022 -- and it should be well remembered. To continue on Biden as a tangential point to original question: Consider his Build Back Better program (or whatever that turned into, I forget the lingo). It was a campaign promise and economic stimulus bill. By the time it was enacted such stimulus was not needed. No one truly anticipated the economy would bounce back so quickly... it normally does not. By the time if was passed -- a campaign promise -- it only added to other factors which drove massive inflation. So was meeting that campaign promise good? Probably not in the end. My point, it's really about is the President doing something to help people? With Trump, that will always be a question. He's transactional and he's his own ideology.

Only wear thongs under compression pants/shorts at gym, but a more substantial posing thong not light weight material or g-string. I like the feeling, and the posture change creating extra curves. Chafing can be an issue so it's far from all the time. But only jocks and a full-back speedo or poser if 'on display'. I'm also much more a visual person. If you've seen one dick / ass you've seen most. Nude does very little for me... it's almost a turn-off beyond the heat of actual play. Gear makes things more interesting, regardless.

Two very good books on the topic: 1) American Nations by C Woodward 2) Historical Atlas of the United States by M Carnes The books are as apolitical as you can reasonable get. The former is probably working itself out, to some degree, as culture has bee nationalized / globalized with digital media, fairly little local connections / community in today's world.

Very partial to Jared Golden

I think things still get missed through political lenses. 2020 vs 2024: Biden: 81.3 million votes vs. Harris 75.0, loss of 6.3 million Trump: 74.2 vs 77.3, gain of 3.1 million -- inline but maybe slightly more than population growth A disproportionate share of Harris' net loss, nearly 2 million votes or ~30%, came from her home state of California. Roughly 1 million more from New York and Illinois. Combined, that's roughly half the net loss came from those three heavily Dem-leaning states. What many forgot, Biden's 2020 vote win -- large electorally and by national popular vote margin -- came down to a mere 44k votes in GA, AZ, and WI. It would have been a 269-269 tie without that and Reps held the lead, 26-24, in US House time-break. Dems could not risk any loss. The real question is, given Trumps large list of problems, why did Dem and Dem-leaning voters not come out to vote? If Dems don't stop and answer that question, it could be President Vance in 2028. This has nothing to do with racism and sexism and the rest. This was tiredness of progressive politics from Dem-leaning voters.

@hntnhole This is a gay sex site. Maybe demands for great literary critique are a bit beyond scope? Merely offering an option of a laugh for those who may have missed it.

For what it's worth, I went in a very different direction. I stopped news. Too much money in it which benefits the noise-makers, social or traditional media. Both political sides have gotten way too extreme and way too absolutist. My direction: I've gone back to read about Ancient Greece for the study of it broadly but also about democracy's origins and evolution. As well, it's interplay with oligarchy. Apple Books has some good (and long) reads by JB Bury -- which start well but, later in the book, I think are poor transcriptions with many typos. Cheap... so, you get what you pay for. And, given this site: that "JB" and no "BJ" and "Bury" not "bury it in there" to be clear.

A friend texted me a clip of Bill Maher response to Harris' book. Very funny and very true. Search for that... pretty spot on.

Just joined and, somehow, stumble first into this convo! What a world! I answer as a former Democrat now independent. The Trump vote was not just from those on the conservative side but those done with Democrats and the progressive wing. note: I voted for a random 3rd party as a protest vote to both major parties. Personally, due to progressive politics, I'm struggling to find a job. I've been told by former colleagues in those companies: They said "...they won't hire a man "(position seniority was lowered to best-qualified woman-- someone who didn't make final round of candidates for position), "...they won't hire a white man" (position scrapped and combine with another), and -- directly in the interview: "We believe in DEI policies. Why should we hire you?" [again, I'm a white man] Here are two other scenarios which demonstrate the issue with progressive politics gone wild: 1) last Halloween here in my building, the building manager says: "we won't allow trick-or-treat as it's not inclusive enough." Do I need to explain how ridiculous this is? I really hope not. 2) the women's soccer pro team (new) in Boston was announced last year. They're initial marketing campaign, "...too many balls in sports." (or whatever). The initial response was "that was transphobic." Are you kidding me? A woman's organization starts by making a "joke" about male genitalia and the only (initial) push back was transphobia. Imagine a men's club put out a marketing tag line, "too many [cats] in sports." Both are wrong. It actually took two months before one of the major national or local news services reported it as male-bashing -- which it was. It should be clear too, male owners have had to sell their teams or executives fired for that or less. It's not clear to me anything was required here -- though the team changed their name. I write these as example of how far the pendulum as swung broadly. I write on two trump-specific issues below: As for Trump directly, I don't like him or how he goes about things. But he gets credit for forcing NATO members to start seriously talking about their own self-defense and stop using the US as a shield to avoid their own defense spending. Few countries lived up to their 2% of GDP requirement and now he's got a 5% annual agreement (by 2030, I think). Whether they live up to that or not is a different convo. But now, even German Chancellor Merz publicly acknowledged (in a BBC interview) Europe has been free-riding off the US for decades. And it has. There are a whole batch or reasons but include green politics -- but FAR from limited to that -- defense production is VERY non-green. Or, take Greenland and say you believe in global warming. Russia has claimed the Arctic circle... which includes areas of Greenland. Irrelevant now but not in the future, if you believe in global warming. Denmark is in no position to defend itself from Russia let alone Greenland. Even NATO itself has done nothing. Greenland may have an army of polar bears -- but drones are more effective than they. Isn't it the the responsibility of our President to defend our own rights? In this case, why should we allow another country to close us in on both sides (Bering Strait on the west and Greenland on the east). It's actually negligence (of both Dems and Reps, as well as NATO), and clearly Russia doesn't care about human lives. I could go on -- on many different topics. But Trump's voters were those who support him and those tired of how crazy the politic left has become.