I know you guys want to know what I think about last nights debate. It was my birthday yesterday, so I was a bit busy until late last night when I watched the whole thing on my DVR. First I will list my thoughts on if I feel they improved, hurt, or fell flat.

 

Donald Trump - Down

Ben Carson - Down

Jeb Bush - Up

Ted Cruz - Flat

Carly Fiorina - Up

Scott Walker - Flat

Marco Rubio - Up

Chris Cristie - Up

Mike Huckabee - Down

Rand Paul - Up

John Kasich - Down

 

The big question is will this bring down Donald Trump?... my guess is no. I felt he made a grave tactical error last night when he strongly went hard against George W. Bush. Trump was in the Reagan Library with hundreds of hard Conservative Republicans that voted for W. twice, and they all have great respect for the Bush family. It set up Jeb to receive the loudest applause of the entire night, but Trump was talking to the 22.9 million people that were watching on TV, so it may have been a smart move looking at the big picture.

 

After he made a remark to Rand Paul about him polling at 1%, I think someone (probably his daughter) got to him during a commercial break and told him to lay off, that he was coming off as too much of an asshole, because he was a total nice guy the rest of the night. My guess is he will remain on top.

 

I love Marco Rubio. He just radiates that he has all the chops needed to command every issue. Everyone just needs to be educated that some people do not look their age.

 

I thought that CNN did an awful job. The questions were asked in a way to start fights. "Senator Cruz, you said you love bacon... Senator Paul has said you're a pig for eating too much bacon... How do you respond?" Plus you had 3 moderators, but Jake Tapper talked 98% of the time. The format was stupid, but they were smart enough to give it 3 hours knowing that 2 would not cut it with 11 people. We all need this to get trimmed down, and I'm looking forward to more of them dropping out.

 

I can go into detail with my thoughts if anyone is interested in chiming in.

Today's Real Winners: Bernie and Rubio. 

 

My timings are absolutely perfect, I sleep when the hype is charging up for the day, I wake up when the pollings are done and 90% of the results are in.

 

Great. 

I consider myself to be very lucky as well, I'm very grateful and humble about it. There was a time in 60s, my dad and family didn't have money for a wall clock and they'd ask time from passers by on the street.

 

Now i earn enough that my parents don't have to worry about money (because they worked their asses off to ensure my and siblings get the best education in the country) and for me to blow it on gtx 970 which is absolutely worthless in big scheme of things :x

If it makes you feel better, I too recently upgraded to an ASUS GTX970 as well. We have our priorities.

What do you know, its Asus here as well. I got the strix version.

What do you know, its Asus here as well. I got the strix version.

Same here... we have the same nose for a good deal!

Questionq, specifically for Trump supporters (should be some here no?) but also for Republicans in general, Democrats and all together the american people roaming these forums.

 

Trump runs on the "Make America great again" slogan, but what does it mean?

 

A) Has the USA really lost its "greatness", or perhaps only partially?

B) Which "greatness" has it lost or is it losing?

C)

- 1) of the "greatness" it lost, to whom and in what way?

- 2) of the "greatness" it is losing, to whom and in what way?

D) How do you forsee this "greatness" being restored?

- 1) Does it mean more effort in maintaining said "greatness"? Like rekindling the spirit that gave rise to said "greatness"?

- 2) Would it mean hindering/hampering the other nations who are either taking away or nearing your "greatness"?

- 3) Would you see that not as a egoistical view? Should the USA not inspire others to work towards said "greatness"? If other nations are nearing or leaping over the USA's "greatness", should they be viewed as hostile regardless of friendship ties?

 

The Carson and Trump comedy double act at the start of the debate was fairly entertaining. 

The Carson and Trump comedy double act at the start of the debate was fairly entertaining. 

That was the fault of ABC for not having monitors to the side of the stage so they can hear their name announced, but it did look really bad. It was a blistering first half, with Christie bashing Rubio into repeat mode... that was just bizarre... and Bush crushing Trump on eminent domain. Rubio was brilliant during the second half, but everyone will remember the first. It's things like this that destroy campaigns, and I hope he can recover. Trump will shake it off and just keep going.

 

Bush and Christie, in my opinion, do not have a chance in this election, so I believe they are just damaging others that do. They have hurt Marco Rubio now, really bad... and that only helps Trump and Cruz.

When we think about our lives... do we really understand how lucky we all are? In this gigantic thing we call the universe, what are the chances that you would become, for a very short while... a thinking, breathing, walking, talking, hearing, seeing, tasting, loving creature that can make things. You could have been a barnacle, a fish, or a rock on Mars... but you scored the golden ticket, you became a human being. In the grand scheme of things it's like we all hit the lottery, every single day, for an entire year. Enjoy your lives, and make the most of every day. You can't take anything with you when you go... and everyone will go.

Lol, funny thing is that ideas like this are at the core of New Atheist philosophy. Hell, this almost sounds like a direct quote from Richard Dawkins

 

Agreed 100% by the way.

I absolutely love you guys. You actually look at everything from different points of view, think things through, understand the complications, visualize consequences, predict outcomes, open honest debate, and respect opinions. It provides me hope for the future. That being said... we can always discuss the climate change/global warming issue. I have been hearing it nonstop for 40 years, and I would take it more serious if the things these people have predicted would happen, actually happened, but it has not.

 

You have to take your eyes and ears off the doomsday data, that they keep rigging the numbers to get the end result they desire, and use your own eyes to see their lies. They use numbers and calculations to say, "OMG! If we don't do something now about carbon emissions right now, the polar caps will melt and in 10 years everyone that lives on the coasts will be under water!"... it hasn't happened. Not even a little bit.

 

If they were right, even a smidgen... the Florida everglades would be ocean, the Statue of Liberty would have her feet under water, and Hawaii would have to move all their hotels off the beach. I was recently in Hawaii, and one of the lies that has been told is that climate change has destroyed the coral reef on the Hawaiian coast. It's not true. Hawaii has no sand. It's all volcanic rock. So they imported sand from Australia... miles of it. The waves and tide pull the sand out into the ocean... and the sand they keep bringing in for the beaches has killed the coral reef. So they created an artificial reef, and now all the fish have a place to live and thrive.

 

If you stop listening to these politicians and "scientists", that all have a political agenda, and just look for yourselves at the garbage they have been pumping you full of for decades, you can see the truth. They have tried to turn it into something that they can blame everything on... it's like a religion. There's a drought in California... climate change. Bullshit... there has always been droughts in California. Heatwaves, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes... climate change. Bullshit... they have always happened. It's never ending what they will say... just like it's never ending the supply of gullible people that believe it.

Remember this conversation?

 

Well it didn't take long for them to come up with another bullshit story in an attempt to cover up their previous bullshit story.

 

Knowing full well that their dire doomsday predictions for rising sea levels didn't pan out... these same "scientists" now want us to believe that it hasn't happened because the planet has dried out so much from global warming that the parched planet has acted like a big sponge and soaked it all up... these people should all be thrown in prison for fucking fraud.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/parched-earth-soaks-water-slowing-sea-level-rise-231245199.html

20% of water rising hasn't happended as predicted and scientists have gone and tried to figure out why. But lets ignore the 80% that still happended, coupled with all the other issues climate change.

 

Water rising is one of the more easely manageable parts of climate change, weather patterns changing is more devestating.

 

Following your logic, can we have half off the pharmaceutical company employees (also the bosses offcourse) in jail for drugs not fit for human use?

20% of water rising hasn't happended as predicted and scientists have gone and tried to figure out why. But lets ignore the 80% that still happended, coupled with all the other issues climate change.

 

Water rising is one of the more easely manageable parts of climate change, weather patterns changing is more devestating.

 

Following your logic, can we have half off the pharmaceutical company employees (also the bosses offcourse) in jail for drugs not fit for human use?

Yes, we can throw them all in jail... along with every Belgian Socialist that wants to encourage them to continue lying about it.

Given the complexity of what is being modelled being only wrong by 20% is pettyimpressive.

 

And either way 80cm sea level rise vs 1m is still a fairly powerful impact.

 

20% of water rising hasn't happended as predicted and scientists have gone and tried to figure out why. But lets ignore the 80% that still happended, coupled with all the other issues climate change.

 

Water rising is one of the more easely manageable parts of climate change, weather patterns changing is more devestating.

 

Following your logic, can we have half off the pharmaceutical company employees (also the bosses offcourse) in jail for drugs not fit for human use?

Yes, we can throw them all in jail... along with every Belgian Socialist that wants to encourage them to continue lying about it.

 

Can we use your or our definition of "socialist", cause 1 of them means a rather empty jail

 

And talking about encouraging lies, who again are you fanboying about? >_>

 

 

And talking about encouraging lies, who again are you fanboying about?

What have I ever said that is fanboying Hillary Clinton?

 

Given the complexity of what is being modelled being only wrong by 20% is pettyimpressive.

And either way 80cm sea level rise vs 1m is still a fairly powerful impact.

So we now say we are wrong in percentages?... "we were 20% wrong"... Do you hear yourself?

 

Who is it that is coming up with the numbers that you wish to believe? That's right... the same people that said they were 100% right 10 years ago, and now say they were 20% wrong... when you refuse to consult your own lying eyes. If they were "80% right", everything on every coast would be under water... it's not... nothing has changed... even Venice Italy is still cruising along just fine.

 

Either you are part of the lie, or stupid enough to believe the lie... which one are you?

 

Very soon, it is my hope that we have a President that will end the insanity.

 

And talking about encouraging lies, who again are you fanboying about?

What have I ever said that is fanboying Hillary Clinton?

 

 .

Wrong liar side

.

 

Given the complexity of what is being modelled being only wrong by 20% is pettyimpressive.

 

And either way 80cm sea level rise vs 1m is still a fairly powerful impact.

So we now say we are wrong in percentages?... "we were 20% wrong"... Do you hear yourself?

 

Who is it that is coming up with the numbers that you wish to believe? That's right... the same people that said they were 100% right 10 years ago, and now say they were 20% wrong... when you refuse to consult your own lying eyes. If they were "80% right", everything on every coast would be under water... it's not... nothing has changed... even Venice Italy is still cruising along just fine.

 

Either you are part of the lie, or stupid enough to believe the lie... which one are you?

 

Very soon, it is my hope that we have a President that will end the insanity.

 

.

Wait, scientists being 20% off is bad, but Trump painting EVERY Mexican as a rapist is totally fine? Thanks for referencing to us your own measuring system on morals.

 

Also, it is not a sudden increase in water level (unless we are talking in timescales beyond millenia).

 

You don't like doomsday talk, well, stop buying half the Republican camps hate-speech the will ya, last I checked I still aint following Sharia law but somehow thats a miracle if I follow what all gets said around your parts. (and ours sadly )

The thing about science, is that there is NO SUCH THING as 100% accuracy. If a scientist tells you that they are 100% correct, be wary. There is however a margin of error within which something can be taken as a certainty.

 

The fact that they were off by 20% does not mean the other 80% is negligible, it shows the problem still exists, and has to be addressed in some way before it gets worse. I'm not saying we should start decomissioning factories and grow forests in their place, becase any effort to significantly change consumer habits is unrealistic. Instead, we should heavily subsidize the research and end eventual implementation of geo-engineering technologies.

 

And talking about encouraging lies, who again are you fanboying about?

What have I ever said that is fanboying Hillary Clinton?

 

Given the complexity of what is being modelled being only wrong by 20% is pettyimpressive.

And either way 80cm sea level rise vs 1m is still a fairly powerful impact.

 

 

So we now say we are wrong in percentages?... "we were 20% wrong"... Do you hear yourself?

 

Who is it that is coming up with the numbers that you wish to believe? That's right... the same people that said they were 100% right 10 years ago, and now say they were 20% wrong... when you refuse to consult your own lying eyes. If they were "80% right", everything on every coast would be under water... it's not... nothing has changed... even Venice Italy is still cruising along just fine.

 

Either you are part of the lie, or stupid enough to believe the lie... which one are you?

 

Very soon, it is my hope that we have a President that will end the insanity.

They, as in the scientific community, created a model and presented a prediction. It was not 100% accurate but it was fairly close. After noticing the discrepancy they reviewed the model. That is standard scientific practice.

 

On the otherside are the deniars. To date their model is inaccurate by a far greater degree. Rather than reviewing their model they just point out discrepancies in the other model to try and hide the fact.

 

I mean seriously, show me any complex model that can make specific predictions over ten years to an accuracy of 20%. And to you only being 80% accurate when modelling the entire globe is a fraud?

"Excuse me Professor Smartypants... I have believed everything you have said... even the hockey stick thing... but I don't see our oceans destroying coastal cities and mass starvation... damn man, we even made mock videos so people would believe what would be happening in 2016 if we didn't pass that Cap and Trade bill that went down in utter flames... this is making me look bad... Why the hell were you so wrong?"

 

"I'm sorry Senator Reid... but according to my calculations... I was 20% wrong"

 

"Oh... okay".

 

With a little luck we'll be able to fix this soon... can you imagine Barack Obama having a super majority in both Houses of Congress and not being able to get his bullshit Cap and Trade bill into law? Must be that the majority of the American people are not stupid enough to believe in their global redistribution of wealth scheme. So instead we get Obama's EPA declaring that Carbon Dioxide... you know that stuff us humans exhale?... is a poisonous gas, and therefore must be regulated. Well the Supreme Court just stepped in and crashed that idea. Trump will probably appoint Sarah Palin as Energy Secretary... and we will never hear of this bullshit ever again.

People, climate changed triggered ocean level rising is like the tides, it comes in a matter of hours or its bogus!

 

We, the human race, are altering the very balance of the earth ecosystem by our "progress", and you just want to ignore that? Fine. Let me come into your home and seal you air tight, see howlong you last. We can take bets on what kills you first, more then likely the asphyxiation.

 

"But scientist, we breath in as much air as we breath out, how could we ever asphyxiate?"

 

P.S. air exhaled is heavier then inhaled air, FEAR THE SCIENCE!

People, climate changed triggered ocean level rising is like the tides, it comes in a matter of hours or its bogus!

 

We, the human race, are altering the very balance of the earth ecosystem by our "progress", and you just want to ignore that? Fine. Let me come into your home and seal you air tight, see howlong you last. We can take bets on what kills you first, more then likely the asphyxiation.

 

"But scientist, we breath in as much air as we breath out, how could we ever asphyxiate?"

 

P.S. air exhaled is heavier then inhaled air, FEAR THE SCIENCE!

Dress up in a sheet, grab a hand bell, paint up a sign that says "IT IS COMING! THE END OF THE WORLD!", and hit a street corner. I will die of boredom reading about this shit before the weather gets me. There are no tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods in Las Vegas... I live on the high ground, and I wake up to beautiful blue skies most every morning.

Right...so because it won't harm you directly, it doesn't matter? 

Whoa... I just mentioned the Supreme Court... and Antonin Scalia has died

Whoa... I just mentioned the Supreme Court... and Antonin Scalia has died

 

The NBC news story on this had an interesting line:

The last Supreme Court justice to die while serving was Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, in September 2005. Rehnquist was the first to die in office since Justice Robert Jackson in 1954 ....

Seems dying while still a justice is unusual.  Now, Scalia was 79, which is not terribly old, but he was likely to retire sometime in the next 4-8 years, and would probably have preferred to leave the court with a Republican president.

 

Obama will likely nominate someone to take his place, but I don't know that Congress will confirm anyone this year.  Likely there will be a holdout until after the election, which will help to galvanize people on both sides (really, it shouldn't: we all knew ahead of time that there were some older justices like Scalia and Ginsburg that would probably be replaced by the winner of the 2016 election, but people probably will respond more to an actual, rather than theoretical, case of voting on who will choose Supreme Court replacements).

 

In this political climate, I don't believe the Senate will give Obama another Justice. They will turn down anyone he appoints and wait it out... unless he chooses Ted Cruz, but we all know that won't happen. What a blow to the Conservative wing of the court, and a very sad day for all of us Reagan Republicans. I can hear the conspiracy nuts already... saying things like, check between his toes, that they killed him. RIP Antonin Scalia... you were a good soldier for the Constitution.