Supreme Court rejects affirmative action at colleges as unconstitutional

Ag3ma

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That's why you have such strong opinions on Joe Biden's interactions with Hunter's overseas business, right?
What interactions? Nobody's found any.

I support potential interactions being put under close scrutiny. I am less satisfied that this scrutiny is been through a highly politicised and partisan process - it would be better through an independent agency. I am even less satisfied that despite finding no evidence of impropriety by the president, the opposition talks about it very frequently and noisily as if there were evidence.

There is of course some difference between Biden and Thomas here. As an independent citizen Hunter Biden needs to be able to make his own way without being unfairly constrained by his father holding high office. The scrutiny needs to look at the president not abusing his office to benefit his son. However, the president cannot be held responsible for the son independently selling himself or receiving unprompted offers motivated by his connection: that is on the son and/or those giving offers.

Thomas, however, can exercise direct control over whether he personally chooses to accept gifts and assistance of extraordinarily high value from people with wide-reaching politico-legal interests.
 
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tstorm823

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What interactions? Nobody's found any.
That isn't true. What hasn't been found is evidence of Joe Biden directly benefitting from what Hunter was up to, or (aside from the Burisma accusations) evidence of Joe using the powers of his office in ways that might benefit Hunter. But on multiple occasions as Vice President Joe allowed Hunter to use diplomatic events as networking opportunities.

Hunter arranged a meeting with an eventual Chinese finance associate after flying to China with Joe on Air Force Two:

Joe Biden invited Hunter's business partner Devon Archer to a lunch with the immediate predecessor of Xi Jinping, and wrote Archer a letter apologizing for not having more time for him there:

Do you believe that going yachting looks worse than inviting your son's business partner (who owns a company working with international finance) to network with high ranking Chinese officials?
 

Ag3ma

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What hasn't been found is evidence of Joe Biden directly benefitting from what Hunter was up to, or (aside from the Burisma accusations) evidence of Joe using the powers of his office in ways that might benefit Hunter.
Yes, exactly - except that the Burisma stuff is unsubstantiated too.

But on multiple occasions as Vice President Joe allowed Hunter to use diplomatic events as networking opportunities.
This is getting into a grey area, and I certainly would not be opposed to clear guidance about what a politician's family is expected to do and not do when on such a trip.

But I'd also want a grinding, months-long Congressional investigation into Jared Kushner with repeated insinuations of wrongdoing. After all, Trump gifted him a role as envoy to the Middle East for which he had no meaningful qualifications or experience, during and after which he secured orders of magnitude more money than Hunter Biden ever did from that part of the world. And Kushner was directly on the state payroll.
 
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Eacaraxe

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There is of course some difference between Biden and Thomas here. As an independent citizen Hunter Biden needs to be able to make his own way without being unfairly constrained by his father holding high office. The scrutiny needs to look at the president not abusing his office to benefit his son. However, the president cannot be held responsible for the son independently selling himself or receiving unprompted offers motivated by his connection: that is on the son and/or those giving offers.
You should probably be thankful the other one died of brain cancer in 2015 and is therefore verboten in terms of political scrutiny, then. In the big picture, I could give a shit less about dick pics, homemade porn, transporting women across state lines for sex work, and cocaine-fueled hooker parties. Letting an old money serial child rapist walk with eight years' probation, when that old money family just happened to be one of his and his dad's top donors, is a whole different story.

I would say that in context of Beau's stunningly-rapid career trajectory through Delaware state politics before his demise, heightened scrutiny towards Hunter is more than warranted.
 

Ag3ma

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I would say that in context of Beau's stunningly-rapid career trajectory through Delaware state politics before his demise, heightened scrutiny towards Hunter is more than warranted.
I don't object to reasonable scrutiny of Hunter Biden at all, as stated. I'm much less enamoured with the way it's being carried out, in a partisan political form and completely inconsistent with a vast number of other scumbags equally suspicious for abusing connections, like the aforementioned Kushner.

I'd be happy to see some paperwork clearly justifying why a load of state officials used Trump properties 2017-2020, thereby transferring government money into the pocket of the president. If as claimed they were on a discounted rate and the most cost-effective available, okay. Although honestly I'd have preferred if US state employees were just straight barred from staying at Trump properties when on expenses, just to be on the safe side.
 

tstorm823

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This is getting into a grey area, and I certainly would not be opposed to clear guidance about what a politician's family is expected to do and not do when on such a trip.

But I'd also want a grinding, months-long Congressional investigation into Jared Kushner with repeated insinuations of wrongdoing.
You do understand that you make your argument weaker by tacking on a rider like this, right? When trying to say you would like everyone scrutinized in response to an accusation of bias, doubling down on "especially Republicans" basically throws out the idea of neutrality. Which is fine, you're not obligated to be neutral, I'm certainly not.
 

Kwak

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You do understand that you make your argument weaker by tacking on a rider like this, right? When trying to say you would like everyone scrutinized in response to an accusation of bias, doubling down on "especially Republicans" basically throws out the idea of neutrality. Which is fine, you're not obligated to be neutral, I'm certainly not.
It's not "especially republicans", it's "especially that guy in that particular situation which was highly suspicious and against all apparent normal protocol". Strawmanning that away is typical dishonesty.
 

tstorm823

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It's not "especially republicans", it's "especially that guy in that particular situation which was highly suspicious and against all apparent normal protocol". Strawmanning that away is typical dishonesty.
Ok, but this stems from "especially Clarence Thomas", and would undoubtedly end up finding more targets were we to continue indefinitely.
 

Ag3ma

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Ok, but this stems from "especially Clarence Thomas", and would undoubtedly end up finding more targets were we to continue indefinitely.
I'm not aware of any other current SCOTUS justices accepting massive gifts from billionaire political activists, so I'm not sure why you think I should be gunning for the others. (Although I've read at least one article that suggests other justices have been involved in stuff that might be iffy smaller ways.)

You do understand that you make your argument weaker by tacking on a rider like this, right? When trying to say you would like everyone scrutinized in response to an accusation of bias, doubling down on "especially Republicans" basically throws out the idea of neutrality. Which is fine, you're not obligated to be neutral, I'm certainly not.
Not really. I genuinely do think they should all be subjected to a high level of scrutiny. I'm pointing out Kushner to highlight the absurd inconsistency and hypocrisy with which the Republicans are launching a fishing expedition via Hunter Biden. They can say Hunter is a response to Trump all they like, but again, there was substantial and credible evidence of Trump's misconduct (and it's not exactly like his current legal woes are undeserved, to underline that point) where there isn't on Joe Biden.
 

Eacaraxe

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I don't object to reasonable scrutiny of Hunter Biden at all, as stated. I'm much less enamoured with the way it's being carried out, in a partisan political form and completely inconsistent with a vast number of other scumbags equally suspicious for abusing connections,
Okay, so how might one go about conducting such investigation without the other side crying political witch hunt by rote, and allowing that cry to take on memetic life? Little bit of a problem this country's had with that, since Nixon.

like the aforementioned Kushner.

I'd be happy to see some paperwork clearly justifying why a load of state officials used Trump properties 2017-2020, thereby transferring government money into the pocket of the president. If as claimed they were on a discounted rate and the most cost-effective available, okay. Although honestly I'd have preferred if US state employees were just straight barred from staying at Trump properties when on expenses, just to be on the safe side.
Yeah yeah, butt rump. Everyone on the fucking planet knew going in he was a collossal corrupt shitbag, especially his supporters who considered his honesty about being corrupt a net positive...because honestly, it kinda was compared to predecessors (and his one successor, so far) who were just as bad but made token, condescending, attempt to hide it. We knew what we were getting with Trump, and he certainly lived up to expectation.
 

tstorm823

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I'm not aware of any other current SCOTUS justices accepting massive gifts from billionaire political activists, so I'm not sure why you think I should be gunning for the others. (Although I've read at least one article that suggests other justices have been involved in stuff that might be iffy smaller ways.)
Your lack of awareness isn't a meaningful argument. Clarence Thomas didn't disclose everything he should have, but people were paying for his trips a third less often than they did for Ginsburg, who before her death was being given all expense paid trips to attend movie premieres about her. She was given a $1,000,000 prize (that is said to have been all given away to charities) by a political think tank funded by a billionaire.

No, the only things atypical about Clarence Thomas are failure to disclose private means of travel and the left's perpetual desire to destroy him.
Not really. I genuinely do think they should all be subjected to a high level of scrutiny. I'm pointing out Kushner to highlight the absurd inconsistency and hypocrisy with which the Republicans are launching a fishing expedition via Hunter Biden. They can say Hunter is a response to Trump all they like, but again, there was substantial and credible evidence of Trump's misconduct (and it's not exactly like his current legal woes are undeserved, to underline that point) where there isn't on Joe Biden.
Ok, but when you say "there isn't on Joe Biden", you say that because:
A) The media you consume does not tell you bad things about Joe Biden.
B) The bad things you hear about you mostly dismiss.
C) The things you can't dismiss are immediately turned into criticism of Donald Trump.

That's not a high level of scrutiny. That's negative levels of scrutiny.
 

Ag3ma

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No, the only things atypical about Clarence Thomas are failure to disclose private means of travel and the left's perpetual desire to destroy him.
You're not discussing this with some amorphous blob "left" of your own conception though, are you? You're talking to me, and perhaps you should address what I think rather than straw man onto some other entity of your imagination.

Ok, but when you say "there isn't on Joe Biden", you say that because:
A) The media you consume does not tell you bad things about Joe Biden.
😂 It's so cute you think this.

B) The bad things you hear about you mostly dismiss.
😂 It's so cute you think this.

C) The things you can't dismiss are immediately turned into criticism of Donald Trump.
He is clearly relevant here, because this assault on Biden via his son derives in part from the investigations into Trump. I think it's very interesting to note the disparity between your attitude to Biden and Trump given the different evidential standards available. I am at least consistent in expecting high standards in either case, and justified to note that in terms of severity, the evidential standard and magnitude of corruption in Trump's cases is wildly more serious than is currently supportable for Biden. You, however, are not.
 

Trunkage

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Ok, but when you say "there isn't on Joe Biden", you say that because:
A) The media you consume does not tell you bad things about Joe Biden.
B) The bad things you hear about you mostly dismiss.
C) The things you can't dismiss are immediately turned into criticism of Donald Trump.

That's not a high level of scrutiny. That's negative levels of scrutiny.
The REPUBLICANS have looked into Hunter 4 separate times now in different committees with many house members and senators and produced 88 pages on it and THEY told us that Joe did nothing wrong. Hunter is a different story
 

Trunkage

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Well now you're not even trying to understand what words mean.
Sin? The word that is used to denote if someone is bad or good? And is used to segregate religious from the non-religious? By the religious? The very word that is used as an 'I win' button on various political topics by certain religious people because that makes other religious people agree with you automatically without putting any critical thinking into it? As a way to indoctrinate others and force your (I mean the church here) will onto others?

The word sin, used by the religious, has very little to Jesus, Mohammed or Moses (at least most of the time). But it sure is at the core of identity to those who are religious. And it's definitely used as propaganda

Edit: Er.. sorry. I don't know why this notification came up now, when we had already moved on
 

tstorm823

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You're not discussing this with some amorphous blob "left" of your own conception though, are you? You're talking to me, and perhaps you should address what I think rather than straw man onto some other entity of your imagination.
On this topic, you think what the news tells you to.
He is clearly relevant here, because this assault on Biden via his son derives in part from the investigations into Trump. I think it's very interesting to note the disparity between your attitude to Biden and Trump given the different evidential standards available. I am at least consistent in expecting high standards in either case, and justified to note that in terms of severity, the evidential standard and magnitude of corruption in Trump's cases is wildly more serious than is currently supportable for Biden. You, however, are not.
There is no disparity in my attitudes toward them. Both Trump and Biden are tied to people who went overseas to try and sell their influence in US politics. Both have had foreign powers try to influence them. Both had interactions with Ukrainian officials that could be seen as problematic, but further evidence strongly suggests neither Trump nor Biden was doing anything corrupt at the time. There are definitely things Joe Biden has done that look suspicious from the right angle, but I don't think Joe Biden was selling influence through Hunter. It's perfectly consistent for me to say that, I'm not calling for resignations from anyone.

When Ukrainians try to get to Joe Biden through his son, you declare him perfectly clean. When Ukrainians try to get to Trump through Giuliani, you declare Trump a mob boss. Like, I consume a reasonable amount of conservative media. I can tell you that right now, a lot of right-wing US pundits are referring to "the Biden crime family", and talking about how there's not going to be hard evidence tying Joe in, cause mob bosses give implied orders and the payments don't go back to them, they go back to "the family". I have no hesitation laughing at that perspective, it's a bunch of bologna. But it's exactly what you sounded like when they were impeaching Trump. The disparity in standards is yours.
The REPUBLICANS have looked into Hunter 4 separate times now in different committees with many house members and senators and produced 88 pages on it and THEY told us that Joe did nothing wrong. Hunter is a different story
Seems reasonable to me.
Sin? The word that is used to denote if someone is bad or good? And is used to segregate religious from the non-religious? By the religious? The very word that is used as an 'I win' button on various political topics by certain religious people because that makes other religious people agree with you automatically without putting any critical thinking into it? As a way to indoctrinate others and force your (I mean the church here) will onto others?

The word sin, used by the religious, has very little to Jesus, Mohammed or Moses (at least most of the time). But it sure is at the core of identity to those who are religious. And it's definitely used as propaganda

Edit: Er.. sorry. I don't know why this notification came up now, when we had already moved on
I don't know what personal experience you've had, but I have never seen any of what you're describing (outside of fiction). I'm pretty deep into political and religious content, and I don't see anyone saying "that's a sin, therefore I win". Though, to be fair, I am a member of the "everyone is a sinner from the moment they are conceived (except Mary and Jesus)" religion, so that's not going to do the segregation you described.
 

Ag3ma

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On this topic, you think what the news tells you to.
This is one of those remarkably pointless comments where someone pretends that they have some privileged insight into reality based on nothing whatsoever.

There is no disparity in my attitudes toward them.
Yes and no. This self-assumed lack of "disparity in attitude" is based on a self-composed, implausible fabrication of what Trump and team were up to in Ukraine, that wouldn't even come close to explaining away a world of impropriety involved even if it were real. To claim one is even-handed by fiddling the evidence to make two parties look the same is not really being even-handed.

And, you know, all the other shit Trump has been up with decades of fraud and the indictments he's currently facing. Because they mean something, too.
 

Silvanus

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When Ukrainians try to get to Joe Biden through his son, you declare him perfectly clean. When Ukrainians try to get to Trump through Giuliani, you declare Trump a mob boss.
Cutting an enormous amount of incriminating context there, I see, such as Giuliani's employees desperately pushing at the Ukrainians.
 

tstorm823

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This is one of those remarkably pointless comments where someone pretends that they have some privileged insight into reality based on nothing whatsoever.
Your not going to claim you've personally researched Clarence Thomas. You're not going to pretend you've experienced divine inspiration. Where are your complaints about Thomas from other than straight from the news?
Yes and no. This self-assumed lack of "disparity in attitude" is based on a self-composed, implausible fabrication of what Trump and team were up to in Ukraine, that wouldn't even come close to explaining away a world of impropriety involved even if it were real. To claim one is even-handed by fiddling the evidence to make two parties look the same is not really being even-handed.
We have primary sources of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine instructing a lackey to aim the info at Trump long before Trump had spoken a word of it. We have the private records of those working for Trump being surprised by the news reporting. It's not an implausible fabrication, it's directly out of the horses' mouths.

I know you put a lot of time into that argument, but that cost is sunk, just concede.
 

Phoenixmgs

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Wild take to see a study that says more black doctors means black people both live longer and that the disparity between the life expectancy between white people and black people shrink, *even if said patients don't actually see the black doctor*, just their presence in the area's workforce causes white doctors to be better at treating black patients, and then declaring that racism definitely isn't a factor. Hell, you even make the argument that white people can't relate to black people! And it definitely only flows the one direction, because having black doctors doesn't cause white life expectancy to go *down*. Do people turn invisible when they put their hands over their faces in your world?

So you simply couldn't answer the question about whether you think AA is inherently racist... Racism is bad regardless if it Improves happiness/welfare or lowers it, it's always bad. The results isn't what makes racism morally good or bad because it's inherently bad. AA is racist and therefore bad, it's that simple.

People more quickly relate to people with more similarities as them. It's why you see at parties that women usually tend to gather and chit-chat with other women, same thing with races as well. Then, I always go over and make the joke that you don't have to segregate yourselves, it's 2023. Why do you think when people started coming over to America, the Irish or the Polish or whomever tended to create communities with each other and live with each other more than some other group?

Are you serious? Safe space was called bad for a long time. Usually by conservatives

Yes, there is a VERY good reason to not teach about Trail of Tears etc. It's never been about guilt. The people who pretend they are guilty aren't guilty. They want it to be acceptable tactics so they can do it again. That's the whole point

They say they feel guilt so that people fall for the persecution complex and then you yell 'cancel culture' and no one questions what they do
But the left loves safe spaces. I wouldn't say the Right finds them bad, but just stupid. It's a stupid ass concept that you think you can go someplace with other people and be safe from someone saying something you don't like. That's never gonna happen, it shouldn't be ever expected, and you should be prepared for such thing happening because it will happen. They are overall bad for mental health and all that though.

Huh? I think you're going way further with this than I am. I don't know why you saying you shouldn't teach about the Trail of Tears, it's important to know history. The only problem I have with teaching something like that is trying to make the kids (whose ancestors did that) feel guilty about it, that's bullshit.
 
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Trunkage

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But the left loves safe spaces. I wouldn't say the Right finds them bad, but just stupid. It's a stupid ass concept that you think you can go someplace with other people and be safe from someone saying something you don't like. That's never gonna happen, it shouldn't be ever expected, and you should be prepared for such thing happening because it will happen. They are overall bad for mental health and all that though.

Huh? I think you're going way further with this than I am. I don't know why you saying you shouldn't teach about the Trail of Tears, it's important to know history. The only problem I have with teaching something like that is trying to make the kids (whose ancestors did that) feel guilty about it, that's bullshit.
There are plenty of movies, historical documents, and factual news reports out there where there is a club, usually for male, or whites, sometimes both. The story is about the outsiders not being allowed in. This has been happening for centuries

All those clubs are safe spaces. Most of them were conservative. Most conservatives have stated that they want these spaces back (like men having an area where they can talk shop and smoke cigars). In my area, there are Men's Sheds, specially designed to do this. Churches have men and women-only sessions. So does Indigenous Australians