Oh Hamburgers!

Forgiveness is important, or at least a willingness to move on. Focusing on petty squabbles from the past and quid pro quo doesn't really get us anywhere. At the same time 'moving on' doesn't mean we should forget the lessons of the past, or choose not to hold people accountable for actions. I think there's more to untangle legally with Trump, and I also think it's fair to judge Biden on his future actions, holding him accountable just like any other president.

I don't use Facebook much, sorry to disappoint.

We're definitely living in strange times, on that we can agree

I'm referring to how the BLM protests spanned multiple days. The rally on January 6th was a more confined thing. I know there have been plenty of nonviolent conservative protests. Overall most of the BLM protests were also nonviolent. The difference from January 6th is people were saying stuff like "1776" and starting to talk about civil war, rebellion, attacking other government institutions and using social media to coordinate. This specific riot - fueled by Trump - is a bit of a unique thing.

A few things: The vast majority of the BLM protests were non-violent. The single Trump protest was violent. A lot of the violence in the BLM protests were escalated by police using excessive force. I'm not saying BLM protestors using violence were blameless, but you must admit the way police handled BLM protests is much different than how police handled the storming of the capitol. I actually was really upset about the violence in some of the BLM riots and protests. It's one of those situations where a movement becomes so large that many people have different thoughts on what the movement should be. I think the looting and rioting in some areas detracted from the overall (good) message that the protests were trying to send. The people who chose to loot/burn/destroy property should be punished, just like those who chose to break into the capitol should be punished.

Wait I'm confused... so we're allowed to say America isn't great? OP made it sound like saying America wasn't great was a bad thing. (I'm mostly kidding, but I do think it's funny the OP starts by praising Trump for saying "America is great out loud" and condemning Biden and "the media" for saying otherwise... but now only a few posts below you're arguing that America isn't great. I think it just goes to show how people with similar beliefs can have very different opinions on things.) On a serious note, I've never said America is all peaches and cream. I have many problems with how this country runs, and I agree it could be great, or at least much more great than it is. I can have the opinion that America needs to change things, and also say we don't need to freak out and say the sky is falling because one election.

You did too! We're all chatting on site focused around people chatting

Wow, talk about fear mongering. Newsflash, when you commit a federal crime in this country there are consequences. It's been that way since before the ink of the constitution was even dry. Using a platform to conspire against the government, or plot mayhem is not protected speech, never has been. Lawful use of platforms on the other hand... yes I agree anyone should be able to use them.

I agree with you, I think decisions should have been made much more quickly than they were. I think many in this country tend to ignore problems and let them get out of hand, in the meantime trying to profit as much as possible. Then suddenly - boom - some negative event happens and everyone tries to distance themselves from who/whatever is getting the bad press. I'd argue companies were hedging their bets on who would have power in the future, and once it was clear Trump wouldn't be in power they quickly distanced themselves from him. You're seeing that with other republicans in government - they've been silent for years, but suddenly it's clear Trump won't be around for a second term they're dropping him like a hot potato.

Insurrection is bad for business. The violence on January 6th seems to have sent some shockwaves through social media sites. It's one thing to express your views on the internet, but when you act on them in a violent manner it becomes something completely different. I think many of these companies realized their platforms were starting to be used to organize illegal activity and put people in danger (Lauren Bobert tweeting out info on Nancy Pelosi's location in the midst of the riots in the capitol for example).

I feel like a lot of your post is venting of frustration and fears, but the opinions aren't really backed by real world evidence. When did Biden say America is not great/we're a disgrace? He and other politicians have said certain policies or actions our country has taken have been embarrassing, but that's not unique to Biden or frankly the left - you can find plenty of examples of people on Worthyboards who feel our country has problems. I also find it ironic you say Trump said out loud we were great.. his slogan is "make America great again".. which implies it is not great (but could be again with his help!). The thing you're mad at Biden about is something Trump had printed on his hats and merchandise for years! Why would we need Trump's help to be "great again" if we were already great before he got here? What I'd suggest is to take a deep breath, and try not to let your imagination run too wild about doomsday scenarios for a Biden-led USA. People had the same panic and fear when Obama was president the first time, and they had another surge of panic and fear when Obama was elected a second time. I'm sure since we've held elections about half of the country has been concerned when the candidate they liked most lost. I'm guilty of it too, I was very sad Trump won in 2016 because I felt that he was the wrong choice for America. Life goes on!

Black people were forced to drink from different water fountains because of the color of their skin. Some of these more radical groups of conservatives are being shut down because they're plotting violence and treason against the country & government. This is not the same sort of thing. Some speech shouldn't be free or accepted, and domestic terrorism fits that bill of speech that shouldn't be allowed. I can't speak to every conservative group or person that has gotten kicked off, I can't speak for everyone and I'm sure there are some that feel they were censored unfairly. I bet some of them are being treated unfairly, and I bet these companies didn't get it all perfectly right. That's definitely unfortunate, and a problem.

The president of the united states incited a riot using social media as his tool for organizing people. We're in strange times. Also these are private companies that have ToS agreements and can refuse to serve/provide for people that break those agreements. If you get booted off Twitter you have the right to express yourself elsewhere, just like if I get kicked out of a McDonalds I have the right to go to a Wendys. As to censorship, I find it ironic you bring up worthyboards. I currently have a post that has been waiting 24+ hours for approval. It was in a thread that was originally in the general discussion but got moved by moderators to political, and now the ability to communicate has been stunted because of the moderation system that requires each post to get reviewed. Worthyboards has that right to moderate their content, and that's the choice I make coming here. If it bothers me enough I can stop coming. Can I ask a question? Who exactly are you mad at? These decisions were made by companies, not 'the libs', not 'the leftist government', not 'antifa' or whatever boogeyman is fashionable today.

Nope not in your head, it's definitely happening. I think it's interesting that things are suddenly cracking down now instead of awhile ago. My guess would be many of these social media platforms felt that their systems were being used by Trump & some of his followers to incite violence.

Cherry!

It's a great verse! It's one of those verses that remind us that it's easy to get caught up with the hustle and bustle of our daily lives and things we find important, but there are more important things to be focused on.

Who benefits from a worldwide pandemic exactly? All countries are facing economic hardship. It's simple. If you accept that a) the virus should be taken seriously and b) the virus is contagious and c) our healthcare infrastructure can't handle a massive flood of sick people all at once then logically it makes sense that people want to do something about it to save lives.

I agree with much of this. One thing I'll add - when it comes to "wrecking the economy"... the sad truth is the economy was going to suffer regardless. If we choose to put in restrictions, the economy takes a hit. If we choose to completely ignore it, then a bunch of people get sick more quickly, can't work & have to take care of more sick family... the economy still takes a hit. It's hard to say exactly what things would look like if we could do it all again and add more restrictions or remove them entirely, but you can't work when you're sick or dead. People also aren't going to be interested in doing a bunch of shopping/consumption if they're afraid for their health when going out in public. It's a lose/lose situation as far as the economy goes. Like you say though we'll get through this.

I think on the surface covid looks like this, but when you dig into it deeper it's not quite as straight-forward as just being about individual liberties. You might not be in frequent direct contact with vulnerable populations, but people you are in contact with on a daily basis probably are, or maybe they're vulnerable themselves with asthma, or other underlying health conditions that aren't easily recognizable. These people like you also need to buy groceries, go to work, or run errands from time to time, and while they might be taking precautions their lives become much more dangerous when people around them aren't taking basic safety steps. Masks reduce the risk but don't remove it entirely, and it requires a group effort from a lot of people to slow the curve. It's also a matter of resource availability. Our healthcare system isn't built to handle massive amounts of people at once, and many areas are running into shortages with space, staffing, and even standard testing supplies and resources. This means that more people will die from preventable causes if our health system is overburdened by people who made a personal choice not to take the virus seriously, and as a result are creating a burden on the system as a whole. So I disagree with the notion it's something that should be left to the individual to decide. I think it's a public health issue... and just like how our freedoms have their limits for the good of the many (i.e. shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre isn't protected speech) I think reasonable laws to enforce safer practices in public in light of a pandemic make sense.

These are totally different things. Cars are manmade vehicles that provide clear tangible value to a ton of people - we as a society recognize that cars are dangerous, but we accept that risk because we get a lot out of them. "The greater good" and all that. And in case you didn't know there are already driving restrictions... that whole "driver's license" thing Covid is a virus, an illness. It's not something we made to provide value, it's just a contagious thing that we've been afflicted with. Comparing governmental restrictions between cars & covid is comparing apples and oranges.

Sure. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html#:~:text=While the impact of flu,61%2C000 deaths annually since 2010. In the US there are between 9.3-45 million cases of flu annually, 140-810k hospitalizations, and between 12k-61k flu deaths annually over the last 10 years. It looks like the flu mortality rate is about 0.13% on average. Compare that to Covid in the US over the last 10 months (not even a full year of data!) In the US there are about 13 million cases of covid so far this year, ~90k hospitalizations, and like 255k deaths. It looks like the covid mortality rate is about 2%. This is all easy stuff to google, these are just raw numbers. Covid is 15 times more deadly than the flu, it's right there. I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have about why we all should be taking Covid seriously and be taking precautions for the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.

Scary part is we still look to be in the uptick stage of the pandemic. I have a doctor friend working in Wisconsin and he's very concerned about hospital space & resource availability. Hopefully our country is going to be willing to take more steps to try and curb this, and soon. Sadly I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. Stay safe out there!

The most simple definition is generic ideology: per wikipedia the left is characterized by "an emphasis on ideas such as freedom, equality, fraternity, rights, progress, reform, and internationalism" while the right is characterized "by an emphasis on notions such as authority, hierarchy, order, duty, tradition, reaction, and nationalism". Both 'left' and 'right' have enormous spectrums of people in their umbrella so it's hard to pin down a single answer about what makes "the left" or "the right". Mantis said the left "hate America, hate religion, hate police, and hate the rich...you're called racist if you fly an American flag, they wear puffy coats and drive subarus etc..." This to me feels intellectually dishonest, and an exaggeration. It might represent some on the left, but I think the majority wouldn't identify with that description. It's the same sort of stereotypical thinking as if someone thinks everyone on "the right" is a hillbilly gun toting bible thumping racist with low IQ. I'm sure there are some people that fit that description accurately, but the reality is much more complicated and nuanced. People usually end up somewhere in the middle and it's unfair to make sweeping generalizations. Really I think you just need to treat each person as an individual and learn about them. Once you realize someone with a different viewpoint from you isn't as odd as you thought from a distance you start to see them for who they are. You might even learn a thing or two

So that's a 'no' to celebrating Christmas from you? Bah, humbug!

Honestly Christian or not I don't see there being a problem with finding something to celebrate in a wholesome way. We have a tree up, the kids enjoy getting presents from santa, making cookies, singing carols etc. Lots of family togetherness during the holidays for us even though it's not heavily focused on religion. We're also not worshiping our Christmas tree or anything like that. Seems pretty scrooge-ish (pun intended) to bash on celebrating Christmas to me, especially when it's more about getting together with others and enjoying family & friends. Let's see if we can keep this thread rolling until December 2018!