zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/jackstelzner/status/1640398101658714131

Wikipedia posted:

Ogles has repeatedly made public claims of being an "economist." After NewsChannel 5 questioned how much formal training in economics Ogles had, he said he was an economist because when "you look at the body of someone's work ... I've spent the last decade working on economic policy and tax policy. " During that time, Ogles had worked for roughly five years as an anti-tax lobbyist with Americans for Prosperity, and then for a year as the executive director of the Laffer Center, an organisation run by economist Arthur Laffer. The executive director position seemed to involve mainly "administrative" work, reported NewsChannel 5, with Ogles not being named as an author of any economic reports uploaded on the Laffer Center's website. Ogles' congressional website claims that "while working at the Laffer Center, Andy became a nationally recognized expert on tax policy and healthcare, having been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily". NewsChannel 5 questioned this claim, being unable to find any articles in the publications independently citing him as an expert, only finding three columns written by Ogles in these publications, all of which were written when he was a lobbyist, before he worked for the Laffer Center.

At a political debate, Ogles called himself "a former member of law enforcement, worked in international sex crimes, specifically child trafficking", while at a separate forum, he said: "I went into law enforcement. I worked in human trafficking." NewsChannel 5 reported that Ogles was a volunteer reserve deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office from 2009 to 2011, with his position revoked for failing to meet minimum standards, failing to progress in field training, and failing to attend required meetings. The Williamson County Sheriff's Office said that records do not show Ogles trained or worked against international sex trafficking as a reserve deputy. In 2011, Ogles worked as a chief operating officer for Abolition International, a non-profit organisation which described its work as giving grants to "holistic ministries". Ogles indicated that since his stint at Abolition International overlapped his stint as a reserve deputy, "Maybe I created some of the confusion or maybe it was someone looking to write a story". While Ogles claimed he was "heavily involved in the fight against human trafficking", NewsChannel 5 reported that Abolition International's tax records showed that Ogles worked in a part-time position that paid him $4,000 in total. Ogles' congressional website originally claimed that Ogles was "overseeing operations and investments in 12 countries" for Abolition International; but NewsChannel 5 disputed that number as too large; the website later amended its claim to overseeing operations and investments in “several countries.”

BiggerBoat posted:

the only thing that these weirdos care about is a bible, a flag and a gun.

PT6A posted:

How do people who espouse pro-life values square that with their often-rabid support of the death penalty?

PT6A posted:

How do people who espouse pro-life values square that with their often-rabid support of the death penalty?

PT6A posted:

How do people who espouse pro-life values square that with their often-rabid support of the death penalty?

PT6A posted:

How do people who espouse pro-life values square that with their often-rabid support of the death penalty?

SeANMcBAY posted:

A lot of Catholics oppose both.

PT6A posted:

How do people who espouse pro-life values square that with their often-rabid support of the death penalty?

Panfilo posted:

I was talking about this recently, in the context of some nobody named Catturd2 having an inordinate amount of followers. And it boiled down to this:

-People on the left actually care about accountability. For all the talk the right does about "personal responsibility" the left seems the ones who actually put it into practice. A lefty charity that steals from donors, is led by a sex pest, or has staff using slurs jokingly will get attacked from within. It's not enough to look the other way for a cause they support. And while noble, this also cripples leftist organizations and ideologues, because nobody is going to be dedicated and perfect enough. There's always going to be dissenters in the crab bucket holding everybody back because of some perceived slight.

-In contrast, one of the highest qualities on the right is loyalty. And loyalty in this context means looking the other way. Something I've learned from goons in both this and the libertarian thread is that people on the right don't care about hypocrisy. It's not a bug, it's a feature. So if a chuds neice is groped by a republican the chud was promoting, he's likely gonna keep his mouth shut. Owning the libs is more important than justice. If some right wing businessman scams some chud he'll just shrug because at the end of the day that businessman is the vanguard political force in outlawing abortion in that state. And so on.

So the grifting is the same thing. Chuds are consumerist through and through, capitalism good communism bad and all that. In a lot of their projection they accuse the left of virtue signaling, and mock their appearance as attention seeking and narcissistic. This is because that is why chuds are doing those things on their end. The boomer on a boat with twenty Trump flags, posing with his family all in MAGA hats are advertising their ingroup identity to others. It is less about displaying their preferences and more owning the libs/impressing other chuds. Thus to them any ostentatious display must be similarly performative. Buying an overpriced pillow, going to a mediocre chicken fast food restaurant, buying a politically incorrect brand of beans, etc are all about 'counter boycotting' products they fear are getting canceled by the left.

BiggerBoat posted:

Good post. I agree with a lot of it.

Explains things like the co-opting of religion (christianity in particular) and also the American Flag. 95% of the time, if I see someone performatively displaying flag imagery or slapping god and Jesus decals all over their car and poo poo like that, I feel safe assuming they're MAGA assholes. Or closed minded one track mind types at best.

Thing is though, Amway Diamonds, Trump, Pat Robertson, etc. are not loyal in any way whatsoever and openly steal, lie and throw people to the wolves.

Was talking the other day to someone and said that conservatives like to deal in absolutes, start with the conclusion based on that and then force feed reality into whatever predetermined idea that might be. Left leaning folks, while still vulnerable to inaccurate information, usually arrive at a conclusion based on data and things they've at least actually looked into. The right says the bible is the word of god, socialism is bad and the MSM is an arm of the DNC but very few of them arrived there, if that makes sense.

I tell people who ask why I vote democrat that I didn't arrive here in a loving vacuum and list my priorities in life and for society (the collective good, UHC, clean energy, women's rights, education, etc.) and it's pretty easy. My left leaning tendencies are based on values I have picked up and learned that are, for the most part, largely born of empathy first and foremost; plus I keep learning. When I educate myself about stuff like GMO's or nuclear power, my opinions on those things change and I admit how dumb I was. That's pretty uncommon IME with people who mainline FOX News and Hannity.

I know that's stereotyping but so be it. Nothing will convince these people that the founding fathers, guns, our healthcare system, the bible, cops, capitalism or the military can ever in any way be fundamentally flawed. Or even flawed at ALL.

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1640413372809363456

He cited this poll at his Waco rally last week too

duz posted:

The unborn haven't been accused of a crime yet.
See how they felt about "crack babies" a couple decades ago.

saintonan posted:

No, they just don't give a poo poo about children.

https://twitter.com/AbeGoldfarb/status/1640726206759809026

poemdexter posted:

republicans: kids are better off dead than gay

zoux posted:

I would like to hear the debate about if the sun and moon are the same thing.

zoux posted:

Always try to keep in mind that when people are saying "polling shows voters want [my personal issue]" that voters are loving morons that don't know what they want.

Ruffian Price posted:

Yeah, the graph makes perfect sense if you consider military spending, makes the average voter seem weirdly well-informed

mobby_6kl posted:

I'm pretty sure everyone would say there's not enough military spending

zoux posted:

I would like to hear the debate about if the sun and moon are the same thing.

zoux posted:

I would like to hear the debate about if the sun and moon are the same thing.

Freakazoid_ posted:

If I had to guess, maybe astrology? It's the only imagery I can think of that puts the sun and moon together, and it's an old trope that women are into astrological signs.

Ruffian Price posted:

mobby_6kl posted:

Some comment in that twitter thread said that apparently most women don't know they're actually different things until their 20s or 30s, and that was based on some podcast or interview or something

Fuckin knew it