I am Groot

There is no freedom of speech in universities. So you're pretending I want to threaten what doesn't exist is disingenuous at best. Job applicants are scrutinized for their ideological conformity with leftist views before being hired and promoted. And constantly monitored, as are students, for improper speech and beliefs by a veritable army of DEI administrators. And those teachers work to insert ideological material into their lessons in order to indoctrinate students. It's rarely put as clearly as it was in that CUPE teachers handout at York, but it's always understood this is something good to do.

It's not derangement if what you say is true. The deranged ones are Trump's insane fanboys.

Swimming is just about the cheapest sport out there. There are free pools and beaches everywhere and not having a freaking swim cap is not exactly an impossible challenge.

You mean like the laws that say he should detain people in facilities the GOP have consistently refused to pay to build? Not just this year but for at least two decades? Where are they supposed to detain people? You think they can just have them sit in the sand in the desert for a year or two?

You are mistaken. You can't challenge that. That would be like challenging a Muslim about the truth of what Muhammed said! It just upsets the Maga worshipers.

Trump was an eager participant. Neither of those is true. See, this is the problem. Whenever your religious beliefs are threatened and your mind is asked to consider the possibility your fat god is something less than you think he is you start getting angry and insulting people. Then you start babbling praise of him and angrily ignoring all counter arguments. You're in a cult. Ended? Are you retarded? It's still going on! Russia did that under Trump. And Trump did N-O-T-H-I-N-G. And somehow you've rewritten this as something praiseworthy. Because he made noise and threats? He does that every second Tuesday. “By undercutting US sanctions against two Chinese companies flagrantly violating US-backed UN sanctions against North Korea, President Trump is making clear to China, Russia, and even South Korea that the UN sanctions are not to be taken seriously.” “By making yet another concession to Pyongyang in addition to the massive concessions he has already made in exchange for nothing, Trump is delivering a strong message that North Korea can maintain its nuclear arsenal without additional cost,” he added. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/trump-s-reversal-of-north-korea-sanctions-sends-a-dangerous-signal/ You know, I read this and I see a man who's sweating and his eyes are getting desperate and he's shaking like a junkie who needs his fix because his god fixation on his hero Trump is being threatened. Do you have a picture of trump on your pillow? Do you kiss it goodnight? It's pointless to talk to you cult types. It's like trying to convince a flat earther or a nine eleven denier. Your minds just can't grasp the enormity of the sheer stupid you've become.

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Indeed, our universities are infested with leftist ideologues. From what I've read most of those arrested on hate crime charges for vandalizing Indo books because its owner is a Jew are university teachers or work in education in some other capacity. Can't blame Trudeau for that, though. I blame Conservative premiers who have allowed this to happen and do nothing whatsoever about it. Not a single one has had the balls to take on the educrats and their massive phalanxes of lettered ideologues.

Jeb Bush was not. Uhm, not actually true. It became more and more divided against itself, which is something a lot more concerning than dealing with this or that political or geopolitical crisis of the day. And he cultivated those divisions the same way Trudeau does. It still is, they still are, it's still around. Unless you were in the middle east where Syria was slaughtering people by the hundreds of thousands. Or if you were in Ukraine, where Russia first sent soldiers to start a phony separatist war against the government under Trump's watch, then openly sent tanks and anti-aircraft weapons to protect them. By abject surrender? By giving the little fat man the limelight and respect he and his predecessors had been demanding for decades without conditions and without reciprocity, then agreeing to stop US forces from doing their regular exercises with South Korea and trying to get US troops pulled out (congress opposed him, including Republicans). Yes, but he was competent, and Trump was not. As attested by his former Secretary of Defence, Secretary of State, three former National Security Advisors, his former chief of staff, former press secretary, a platoon of presidential aids, and his Attorney General. His loyal Vice President advises people to vote for someone else. Like what? Those who owned stocks made out alright. I don't see how blue collar workers or farmers got anything but a temporary tax cut (it was permanent for the corporations and for real estate developers). It's really become a tiresome cliche that whenever I say something against the Democrats someone tells me to stop watching FOX and when I say something against Trump someone tells me I'm being taken in by CNN. And I'm fairly sure that in both cases the individuals only ever watch either FOX or CNN. I don't need CNN to tell me Trump is an incompetent fool who cares about nothing and no one but himself. I've known that since he was a Democrat.

Why? Because she's a typical politician? Because she's corrupt? You think there are any people in congress who aren't? Aren't you one of the MAGA types? Explain what characteristic about Pelosi Trump doesn't exhibit? I'm not defending Pelosi so much as condemning the china-sponsored antisemites she was dealing with.

You get that every other country doesn't have the same level of debt as we do, right? I'm not sure if this is a non-sequitor or not because I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you referring to him throwing billions of dollars into the toilet so he can preen and strut and pretend he's a great environmentalist while actually accomplishing absolutely nothing? Because he didn't 'have' to do that.

Oh, bullshit. Almost anyone sane and reasonably capable would kick Biden's ass, including either Desantis or Haley. Even Chris Christie would mop up the floor with Biden. Even Jeb Bush would kick his ass. And he isn't exactly Mr. Charisma. The only thing giving Biden the strong chance of winning is the way so many recoil at Trump. There is no evidence Trump is either smart or has ever been smart. The amount he inherited from daddy, if simply invested in the S&P, would have resulted in far and away more wealth than he pretends to have now (but won't let anyone see the evidence). As a president, his White House was inefficient at every aspect of governing and often in a near chaotic state. This according to those who worked in it as well as many of members of his cabinet. Trump is a real estate salesguy. That is all he's ever been all his life. His attempts at business have been disasters. He's a smooth talking sales guy with no sense of morality who will tell the suckers whatever it takes to make a sale, and he's transferred that to politics. Trump has never shown the slightest dedication to America until he started running for office. I find the willingness to believe this guy really incredible. We have people in the flyover states thinking he's their guy when he never showed them the slightest interest or even awareness for most of his life and did nothing for them as president. And we have guys like you who seem to think a globalist billionaire really truly cares about America as opposed to his own wealth, power and ego. Well, he's a helluva sales guy, is all I can say.

You get that there's a difference between a retired politician and the president, right?

No, they did not. Mulroney took over from Trudeau's father and inherited a massive deficit in the midst of double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment. Not exactly the same to slash government spending. Which meant borrowing tens of billions a year at a time of very high interest rates. Doesn't take long for that to get your debt up. They did, however, cut spending year by year, and implemented the GST against ferocious opposition from the Liberals and NDP. People forget that Chretien couldn't improve things either for the first four years he was in office. And he too ran big deficits. Harper inherited a budget in surplus and kept it there until the rebellion of the three opposition parties against his minority government in the face of a financial recession. He too borrowed big to satisfy them, but then cut that deficit every year thereafter to reach balance. Trudeau, like his father, thinks any concern about debt or money is beneath him. In good times, he ran up ever higher deficits which exploded when Covid hit. We borrowed more and spent more during covid than any other western nation. Much of it wastefully, and continue to borrow to have big deficits years afterward. Which means yes, the conservative is going to have to come in and start cutting. And if that means the welfare types, including welfare artists and welfare media and welfare political and legal activists and welfare cultural organizations and welfare corporations have to do without so much government money so be it. Instead, we have a trillion dollars in debt for young people to pay off, weighing down on their backs for the rest of their lives.

And as someone heavily invested in the stock market for some years I can tell you that's not any different than it was under Trump. Good. They need to increase taxes so they can stop borrowing so much. You do recall that Trump borrowed a lot of money, too, right? In fact, his tax cuts added massive amounts to the deficit. And what politician doesn't do that?

These people are low knowledge cretins. You know that. Yeah, she's not wrong given who's paying for the organization.

I don't know if she ever even met the man. I know Trump and he were friends, though. And Trump was notorious when his company was running the Miss America and Miss Teen America for barging into the dressing rooms unannounced in hopes of getting a glance at young things undressed. Then there's those disturbing pictures with him and Ivanka when she was young... Should people who worship a guy who doesn't even believe in the constitution be whining that some old retired person might not support a particular amendment?

I could speculate on what could be done, but as long as three-quarters of the planet is building coal power plants there isn't a hope in hell any of it will be of much use in lowering carbon emissions. The EU alone is spending $200 billion a year on climate change initiatives, and has been for years now. But carbon emissions keep rising as hundreds more coal plants go up in the developing world. Under those circumstances I'm not willing to spend a bloody dime on carbon reduction. I do believe in nuclear power and we should continue refurbishing old reactors and building new ones, especially those little ones. I think we should have a good look at building codes and what should be strengthened, what flood control initiatives might be needed, and whether irrigation systems need to go in in other areas. We should also consider what trees we have might be most vulnerable to rising temperatures and which would be least vulnerable and plant more of that second kind. And we might want to invest in a fleet of new water bombers since ours are mostly older than I am. As for the developing world - screw em.

I don't think a full year of Trudeau trying to scare people about how Poilievre is just like that evil, horrible, mean, stupid, racist, ignorant, rabble rousing Trump is going to play well down south if Diaper Boy gets elected again. And against old Joe, he just might. Even though, aside from the identity crap, things are going pretty well down south. If the Dems hadn't kept pushing the identity garbage they'd have no problem winning over the House and holding onto the presidency. But they just can't bring themselves to shut the f*ck up about stuff people are tired of hearing about. At every level, from school boards, to city administrations and mayors to local district attorneys to governors to old Joe repeating swill he's being fed by his progressive wing. What isn't going well? The stock market is at an all-time high. GDP growth is exceeding expectations, inflation is coming down, and unemployment is at 3.7% If it weren't for the identity crap the dems would be a shoe-in against Trump.

Things seem to be going very well down south. Why is that?

Now you're getting all defensive. I never said a thing about Nelson, so why would you think I worship him? But there's no denying he's a 'hero' as we rate such people and I really don't know why you even tried.

Buddy. You said something dumb and he pointed it out. This is just... weak.

Procured? Jaysus, boy! They've only been working on them for a decade or so! Give em some time! They expect to probably sign a contract soon, then in no more than ten years or so we expect to get the first ship delivered. As for our existing frigates, which were launched back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, although I know the navy was considering upgrading their missile defence systems I don't know that anything was really done about that and I believe they are considered to not have sufficient missile air defense to operate in that environment against an advanced enemy like the uhm... Houthis. Or maybe Ottawa is just not willing to pay for sufficient fuel to get there. They do have phalanx and see sparrows after all. I don't know where that fits on the scale of capability for air defense.

Granted. But while the majority of ordinary people supported such a view, even then, I think more would now, and would believe it more strongly. Recent events have shown the downside of allowing millions of people come here from countries with ancient hatreds, often supported by religion, without doing a thing to screen them for those hatreds. I just had lunch the other day with a very, middle class Liberal woman, still a strong supporter of Justin Trudeau. Yes, there are such people, and still a strong supporter of immigration. But we got to talking about other things and she said nothing on Earth would ever persuade her to visit India given its treatment of women and the way women are looked down on and endangered there. Same goes for most of the Muslim world. I pointed out we were bringing millions of people from those countries here and that gave her pause. As it should. Now I grant you there is no way to do this with 500k people coming over every year. But that number has no economic or even demographic logic behind it. We should cut the number to 150k for now, and just look for the cream of the crop. And they should be interviewed and given a version of a personality test and marked according to how adaptable and open they are to our values and ideas. We should also stop just taking whoever applies. We know who we want. Support industries and associations to go out and look for them. We want highly skilled people who will add to our GDP per person, not lower it. There are unhappy doctors and nurses in Ireland and the UK, and unemployed tradesmen in Portugal, Spain and Italy - places that supplied a ton of such people to us in the 1950s. Why aren't we trying to recruit?