Radiorum

I should clarify that I am referring to the democratic world I fear for the future, too. I don't think America knows what it got when it elected Trump.

I was speaking of the rulers. When did these supposed "freaks" rule? Trump rules by fear. No-one even comes close. Even if they are hateful ones that harm others?

He is one of the bright lights on CNN. This is a very troubling turn, indeed. I guess ruling by fear is effective, but it creates a toxic environment. How can a society subject to constant threats and intimidation flourish? What place does truth have in such a society?

I think the question is not “Did Musk make the Nazi salute?” but instead “Does Musk think he can get away with making the Nazi salute?” The answer would be yes. The Nazi ideology is just that – an ideology (although a vile and odious one) – and Trump and Musk are not persons who adhere to an ideology. They have both demonstrated their pragmatic nature – willing to sway in the political winds. If Musk made a Nazi salute, it would not be for ideological reasons, but to shout, “nothing can constrain me.” Heck, the EU tried to impose its own laws on Musk and Vance stepped in and ordered the EU to leave Musk alone or “we’re going to pull out of NATO.” These are men who are extremely puffed up with their own power. Here we have the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world (although in reality Putin is probably richer) – who are driven by one instinct – to gain more power for themselves. And flaunt it. If Musk made the Nazi salute, it would be to say, “I can do anything. Look what I can get away with.” Not because he adhered to the Nazi ideology (his support for the far-right AfD notwithstanding), although he understood that the salute would appeal to some diehard Trump supporters. And now they have a Secretary of Defense who is willing to get his hands dirty. And the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers who have already demonstrated that they are willing to resort to violence to show their loyalty to the Dear Leader. And a tech industry willing to kiss Trump’s ring. All without a shred of ethics amongst them. These are troubling times. The issue is not a gesture Musk made, but the concentration of power in the hands of those who only have their own interests at heart.

Ah, more manifestations of your subjective truth, which is lie and goes against reality. You belabor under a delusion. But he did. That is the objective truth.

There is subjective truth and there is objective truth. The objective truth is that January 6 never would have happened without it's-going-to-be-wild Trump and all his lies and manipulation. YOUR subjective truth is that the lawmakers and protectors of the law are at fault. Your subjective truth falls short of the objective truth. But you cling to it! I understand. It's through subjective truth that we understand existence. But, unfortunately for you, you don't see things as they really are.

Trump could not accept his loss of the 2020 election so he sent his goons to attack Capitol Hill. In the words of one officer, the scene was: “a non-stop barrage” with “weapons and things being thrown, and pepper spray, and you name it … You could hear them yelling. You could hear them, screams and moans, and everything else.” Another officer was certain he was going to die: “You know, you’re getting pushed, kicked, you know, people are throwing metal bats at you and all that stuff. I was like, yeah, this is f*cking it.” https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/trump-law-and-order/681365/ More than 140 officers ended up being injured in the frenzied crowd. All in service to a man who manipulated them with lies in trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election. Trump's decision to pardon them is a grave sign of disrespect to the courts and the judges that spent thousands of hours to see that justice was done. What is there to believe in anymore in the US?

Four pages, and I dunno ... you all present like a bunch of twelve-year-olds. Anyway ... Trump casts himself as the avenging hero, wallowing in dark themes, ordained by God to destroy the “radical and corrupt establishment.” He said, “I was saved by God to make America great again.” Megalomania, amorality, madness and possessing the greatest power in the world. What could go wrong? Whatever he does decide to do, I am sure that democracy will not play any part in it. And he now has big tech on his side. They will control the narrative, and it will end up serving Trump’s interests, not those of the nation. And Trump is a very ugly person. I always wondered how? How did the atrocities of the second world war come to be? But, now, I am beginning to understand.

Just the fact that you do not see me as individual greatly diminishes your ability for meaningful dialogue.

Lol, not how I remember it ....

You were saying parents and care-givers were the threat. I disagreed, with evidence. I never say "never." Nothing is ever black and white. I'm sure you can find anecdotes of less-than-perfect parents, but that is not news, and that does not take into account the larger reality of being transgender. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Do you know what they call it when you start with a desired conclusion and word backwards from it? Rather than follow the evidence and logic to where it leads. That's called pseudoscience. Your position is pseudoscientific.

Your allegation (offered without evidence) does not represent the biggest threat to transgender persons. Stigma, prejudice, and discrimination related to being transgender in these youth’s environments is a much bigger threat, as well as inconsistent support from families and the community. These are the main contributors to any mental distress transgenders experience. In fact: Our findings reveal substantial mental health disparities for Canadian transgender youth when data are compared to age-equivalent large-scale population surveys. Compared to the BCAHS, we found same-aged transgender youth faced significant health disparities across all measures, with exceptionally high effect sizes. Transgender 14–18 year olds had 5 times the risk of suicidal thoughts, with almost two-thirds having seriously considered suicide in the past year. Three-quarters of 14–18 year olds reported self-harming in the past year, compared to fewer than one in five students in the BCAHS. Results were similarly concerning when comparing data for 19 to 25 year old TYHS participants to the general population in the CCHS. In terms of risk ratios, transgender 19–25 year olds had almost 8 times the risk of serious suicidal thoughts in the past year than the equivalent aged Canadian population, and over 16 times the risk of a suicide attempt in the past year. Stats show only a very small percentage ever detransition. In the US, the majority that do, did so only temporarily, and cite societal, financial or family pressures as the reason. So, when someone tells you who they are, believe them.

But you haven't. You proved nothing except that you are willing to put your faith in a lying conman, rather than the US legal system. No, I said he announced his candidacy. Pay better attention. You’re making yourself look foolish. In any case, the investigations were well under way prior to his announcement. In January 2022, deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco stated that the Department of Justice would investigate the Trump fake electors plot. By March 2022, the Department of Justice had opened an investigation into the events of January 6 and Trump's attempts to overturn the election. The Department of Justice began obtaining White House phone records in April in connection with the January 6 investigation, and a federal grand jury issued subpoenas to Trump's lawyers in connection with the fake electors plot in May. I do agree that the law can work slowly, especially in this unprecedented case (and maybe they were waiting for the report from the January 6 committee), but I accept that justice was their goal. In the final analysis, whether or not he was running for the presidency, he had to be held lawfully accountable. From another thread, I got the impression you held the law in high regard. But it seems your devotion to the law is fickle. You can take it or leave it depending on whether it serves Trump’s purposes or not. Not only is this an unprincipled position, but it reveals a loose association with the truth. And we know, that Trump depends on the blind loyalty of the cult.

I said nothing that is not true. But as usual, you were quick to judge without considering the meaning of words. Trump knew what was going on at the DoJ and that spurred him on to act.

There's no equivalence. What you have presented is a fallacy.

When it comes to biological sex, labels are meaningless, since development is a complicated process that results in more than a simple binary. That’s not the reality. Consider humans born with CAIS (complete androgen insensitivity). Their chromosomes are XY (male), they produce male levels of testosterone, have undescended testes, produce sperm, and do not develop a uterus, but they do not respond to testosterone so they develop otherwise along the female body plan. They have vaginas, a complete (and often even more so than average) suite of female secondary sexual characteristics, and typical female neurological development. So, they have male genetics, hormones, and gametes, but female genitalia, body and brain. So – are they male or female? Do some men have vaginas, or do some women have XY chromosomes? A Discussion of Biological Sex

The major problem with your position is that you (incorrectly) believe that adults are pushing unsuspecting kids into choices that would not have occurred to them. Research shows that transgender persons have felt that way "forever." I'm not sure why you would think parents are involved in some sort of conspiracy against their children. That just does not fit the facts.

Trump is bar none the most unethical president that has ever been. Making money off of gullible people is his mark in trade. Add this to the other business opportunities (like gold shoes and the only Bible endorsed by Trump) that prove the maxim, "There's a sucker born every minute." Lol, buy a token for $27.

That's not what the statistic shows. It shows young people in Canada want the economic benefits of the US. To state this in the face of all of Trump's lies is just delusion to the nth degree.

The two federal criminal investigations came first. Then, Trump announces his candidacy, no doubt to keep himself out of prison. This was not a case of prosecution to interfere in a candidacy, but a candidacy to interfere with prosecution. As early as late 2021, the DoJ began to consider the fake elector scheme, and to seriously investigate it in early 2022. During the summer of 2022, it was first reported that Trump’s actions were being examined as part of a criminal probe. Garland announced that “everyone responsible would be held accountable.” Then, Trump announced his candidacy in November, 2022, no doubt to inoculate himself from criminal charges. Trump did try to halt the proceedings, using his candidacy as the reason, but the courts did not agree. From page 102 - 103 of Smith's report: Both during the investigation and after the case was charged, however, Mr. Trump sought to delay the proceedings, taking the position that when the judicial process conflicted with his election campaign, the courts should always yield. See, e.g., ECF No. 30 at 11 (proposing April 2026 trial date, emphasizing that "[n]o major party presidential candidate has ever been charged while in the middle of a campaign"); ECF No. 103 at 20 (Mr. Trump's counsel arguing, "The easiest solution to all of this is an obvious one.... and that is to adjourn the case after the presidential election. That's the solution."); ECF No. 242 at 7-8 (asking court to reconsider scheduling order, emphasizing that "President Trump is the leading candidate in the Presidential election, which is just weeks away"). But the courts consistently rejected Mr. Trump's efforts to delay or stop the proceedings. No matter how many times you say this, it does not change Trump's words and deeds, which are now part of the historical record. You'll have to explain how corruption justifies further corruption. Not the case. An impeachment trial followed by conviction does not rely on evidence in the same way a criminal trial does. Instead, political considerations decide the outcome. From page 89 of Smith's report: Not only are impeachment and prosecution separate and distinct proceedings, they apply different standards and pursue different objectives. When Congress decides whether a President should be impeached and convicted, that process does not depend on rigorously adjudicating facts and applying law, or on finding a criminal violation. Instead, the impeachment process is, by design, an inherently political remedy for the dangers to governance posed by an office holder who has committed "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." U.S. CONST. art. II, § 4. Congress may decide not to impeach or convict for reasons that have little or no connection to the nature of the evidence of the officer's culpable conduct A technicality is any reason the case was put aside unrelated to the facts of the case, so, yes, the case was set aside because of a technicality. And you are insisting he is innocent despite the mountain of evidence he is not.

I refuse the believe this. We are a work in progress. I'm not. It's clear t hat young Canadians do not want to become American. Let's not sell our country down the road prematurely. By a very small minority. The actual municipal governments? I am not a Trudeau fan and never voted for him. I sure as hell won't defend him. Yes, ironically, Trump is boosting national pride. But I don't think that is his intent! It's yet to be seen what Pierre will do for Canada, but I am optimistic.

Yeah, and then he resigned. But that's a different crime than Trump committed. Haldeman kept a secret audio diary, too. And he recorded Nixon's reaction to Trudeau Sr.: “He [Nixon] had the Trudeau meeting at 4 o’clock for two hours and then the Trudeau dinner tonight,” Haldeman dictated during that visit, “and … he was thoroughly disgusted with Trudeau, who he hasn’t liked much anyway, but who has turned into even more of a f*g than he was before. And it’s considerably more obvious [in] his hairdo, and attitudes and everything else are really repulsive.” Anyway, the takeaway is that Nixon was held accountable for his crimes (which pale in comparison to Trump's). I think I have. In the first place, his impeachment did not result in conviction for purely political reasons. And all those Republicans, including McConnell, made noises about getting Trump in a subsequent criminal investigation. A solid case was built against Trump, and was only put aside because he was elected president. Not because he was innocent of the crimes. So, quit blathering on about this technicality. Trump did the crimes. You know it, everyone knows it, it is all very familiar. Following the law is not ridiculous. Not so. Please read my previous post.

It's true, young Canadian people want more opportunity. They want to be able to buy their first home. But I do not believe Canadians want to be American. The 77% aged 18 - 34 that said they would never vote to become American says that much. Don't you feel that great pride in being Canadian? Everyone I know does.

There are lies, damned lies and statistics. The qualifier that becoming a part of the US includes “a full conversion of the Canadian dollar and all personal assets into USD” makes it an absurd hypothetical. That would never happen. More telling and realistic is the results to “I would never vote to become a permanent part of the US” 77% of Canadians aged 18 – 34 say No.

Where were you on January 6th?