2020 US Presidential Election

Wtf lol? The GOP really can’t win without cheating.

 

So true lol, AOC has been my political crush since she won the primary in 2018. I want her to beat me like I work on Wall Street.

 

If AOC hugged me and told me it would all be ok, I think that would be comforting. Sign me up too I guess.

I guess I'm bihugual (zero desire for sex with women but I could go for some serious hugs from any gender).

 

In 2017, a New Jersey high school teacher was ordered by her employers to edit an H.S. yearbook photo of a student wearing a Trump Make America Great Again shirt, by removing the shirt's message. The school blamed her, she was targeted with harassment, including a death threat, and she sued. She won 325 million bucks, in court due to the aftermath of this anti-Trump shirt censorship. Bully for her! Good article:

N.J. teacher blamed for Trump yearbook censorship gets $325K settlement

 

Very interesting, so this means then that Trump supporters' rights are protected by the courts. That's good to know.

 

Oh, and it was NOT 325 "million", it was 325,000, lol.

The big news now is that because of the censorship of Trump, he's about to start his own social media network within months. The social media companies started this, by banning him, now they're going to have to live with tens of millions of people subscribing to whatever it is that Trump is planning, lol.

Donald Trump reportedly starting own social media network

 

If I’m being honest with you, good. I always thought banning Trump was dumb and Silicon Valley can fuck off. They let far worse people have accounts and if you are not going to ban all the literal dictators on there, banning Trump just looks political.

 

As Bill Maher put it Friday night, "WTF, JOE?!"

Democrats ask Biden to reverse employee policy on past marijuana use

I feel like Trump could've won if he had come out hard for federal legalization or at least decriminalization. How many jaded stoners down the middle of the aisle do you think would've said fuck it, and voted for him. Especially if Biden maintained his stance from the Paleozoic era. By my observations, traditional Republicans stay the fuck away from cannabis reform in fear of alienating their base. But Trump supporters will get behind anything he does. Was this a missed opportunity for the Donald? Was cannabis reform enough to garner significant single issue votes? (Sure as shit seems like it was with Trudeau up here).

Thoughts?

 

As I understand it, isn't a big part of the issue pertaining to marijuana being a gateway? I know Chris Christie thinks so.

"I don't believe that legalizing an illegal drug for purposes of governmental profit is something that we should be doing. I believe that this is a gateway drug into other more serious drugs, I think it sends a wrong message to our kids and I don't think it makes anybody a better or more productive person," he said.​

I've seen other conservative thought leaders, like Ben Shapiro, basically suggest that it's just not that motivating either way. Pot is an undesirable drug that just makes people lazy, but they don't care if people do it. However, I do know the red base has grown in marijuana use. It's probably just not a huge win or loss either way.

I would like to see it legalized. Too much upside. Plenty of people try it and don't like it. It could help people with desperate medical situations.

 

Christie's comments are laughable. How is it any more of a gateway drug, or a threat to the public than alcohol already is? Where is his data to support this? Trump is the one they listen to anyway. IIRC, I believe even Roger Stone advocated Trump to pursue cannabis reform. It strikes me as something that carries zero risk for Trump when you consider how die-hard his followers are. If they can rationalize the Capitol riots then I really don't think cannabis would be the deal breaker for them. He is the ultimate salesman and conman, he would've found a way to package it in a palletable way for the reds, IMHO.

I think it was a missed opportunity for Trump to net single issue vote and an easy way create the illusion that he is a forward thinking politician. Hell, he could've had his own product line like Seth Rogen's Houseplant.

 

I can see it now:

"We've done a great job on this bill, people, a great job. It's a beautiful bill, a beautiful bill. The other guys had 50 years to do it and they couldn't get it done. They couldn't get done what 2e did in a year. Amazing. It's really amazing when you think about it."

 

For years, I believed what Christie believes. Much of it is because I have literally seen friends die who graduated to opioids, after starting with marijuana. After a while, I pretty much came around to the fact that if there was a gateway effect, it was actually because marijuana was illegal. In other words, we were attracted to the thrill of doing something illegal.

After the thrill went away, our friend circle basically just broke down into people who liked marijuana and who didn't, with legality having nothing to do with it.

I'm a mixed bag (talking about pre-illness). If I'm in "I don't care about my brain" mode, I love it. If I'm working hard, I hate it as it kills my short-term memory temporarily. Either way, I never felt the pull towards opioids. I think my friends who did opioids always would have done them, which is why I support marijuana legalization.

Pot doesn't make the world go round though. But it also has some benefits.

 

Sounds like you've only had one kind of pot. We have every potency range represented in our legal system. There are different strains that produce wildly different effects. Terpene profile also plays a role, and that's what we're only starting to understand. That's what seems to get missed, not all pot, or cannabis products, couchlock you or "fry your brain." Some of my best work in school was done on low to medium THC producing sativa strains. You probably smoked potent recreational weed that was literally bred to yield high and be highly resinous. That's just what the illicit market has traditionally demanded.

This is hardly a reason to scoff at pursuing legalization. Plus I think all the people with a bullshit criminal record would have a bone to pick here.

 

?

 

Sorry, perhaps I read this as condescending.

 

The different strains idea is certainly interesting. I've sometimes wondered if I should try a bunch of strain types for my hyperacusis. So far, my experiences are that CBD with THC makes it worse and CBD without THC has essentially no effect. I think THC can make tinnitus worse too.

The argument that alcohol is legal, but pot isn't, doesn't make any sense at all.

As far as getting locked up or even having a big mark on one's record over pot is extremely stupid. The good fortune that I experienced -- being a pothead for years -- and never getting caught and having my life ruined, is not lost on me. When I decided I wanted to stop, I was able to do so.

To me, the best argument for it is the potential medicinal value. The recreational part is more like "even if one doesn't like it, there's a lot of more harmful things that are already legal."

 

Yes but Trump wasn’t just neutral, he was outright opposed. Him changing his mind was probably less likely than Biden changing his mind.

 

How so? I've worked with many alcoholics and from my perspective it has a far greater potential for destruction, barring this idea that pot leads to opiates. They are both mind altering substances and the way I see it, either one could function as a "gateway" if somebody is looking to get fucked up.

 

Oh, haha, I was agreeing with you. Sorry, I worded that terribly. I really meant:

The fact that alcohol is legal, but pot isn't, doesn't make any sense at all.

 

You're kind of making the case for me here. Alcohol withdrawals are on another level.

 

I agree lol. We're in a funk, probably because I'm experiencing my evening coffee crash.

tl;dr: I fully support marijuana legalization, used to smoke a lot, fully support it for medicinal purposes (though I am interested in critical long-term health studies), and think it's fine for recreational use if one likes it.

The fact that I can go into my liquor cabinet right now and down a fifth (god only knows the level of horrific demons that would come out after years of daily torture), but would have to go on the street to smoke a blunt is kind of insane.

If THC didn't worsen my hearing problems, I would probably plan on smoking when I retired -- more likely edibles.

 

No worries homie, lol. I don't want to argue anymore, I love you too much Zugzug <3 I think we fundamentally agree anyway. Just two liberals trying to hone in.

Now I'm going to slump back into watching the rest of you guys debate the other pressing issues of the world, because all I know is weed, lol.

Edit: sorry if I came off as a hostile dick, I'm actually on a tolerance break and I fully admit, one of the side effects is kneejerk irritability, lol.

 

Lol everyone on here has mood disorders from being tortured 24/7. Also, varying degrees of brain fog in and out.

I basically just shit a brick out every time I argue in the politics thread. Others really know what they are talking about.

 

I really wish that edibles with no THC or very little were allowed in New Zealand. If only people voted yes for recreational cannabis in the last election. Seems New Zealand is way too far behind compared to Canada and the USA when it comes to recreational cannabis.

 

I'd be a fraud if I said I'm being tortured, because my ears have improved dramatically since late 2019 (still mulling over my success story, have a pretty good idea of what happened to me), but I 100% know about brain fog. Another withdrawal effect I admit to, lol. I probably don't need to be here as my tinnitus hovers between a 1-3 out of 10 and my sound sensitivity has pretty much receded. It's just I spent so much time on here and met so many people that I've come to care about. Like FGG said she'd stick around for the obscure cases even if she got fixed, I am too. Stockholm syndrome, maybe? Or perhaps I'm just lonely, lol. I do want to see through to a cure. And I don't trust my ears not to worsen again. Not one bit, lol.

 

Haha, I know what you mean exactly. No matter what, my life will never be the same. If I woke up cured tomorrow, I would probably cry hysterically for like weeks. My body wouldn't even know how to react to normal life again. I can't really picture leaving Tinnitus Talk and never looking back. It would be an absolute bitch to learn how to be friends with healthy people again. I don't even know what I would talk about, as I had seen a level of human suffering that I couldn't unsee. Years unable to talk, ever take earmuffs off, or leave the house and none of those things even approach the top of the worst parts. I'm fucked for life. I hope I don't become an alcoholic; I'll probably have to be pre-emptive and never start drinking. As it currently stands, I dream every single night and I have hyperacusis in every dream. That's how entrenched in my psyche this is.

I'll never forget when I first joined here. I won't use names, but I saw one famous character and another famous character hashing it out over TRT. The person injecting reality into the situation freaked me out. I never dreamed I would become a long-term part of the community. I completely saw this support group as a temporary thing.

Once it became apparent how fucked we are and how my top-notch doctors didn't have even the slightest clue what was going on, I started to see the "negative" people very differently. I saw companionship and the total ineffectiveness of positive thinking.

From there, I've burned a lot of time shitposting in the politics thread and having horrible brain fog. Then I drank coffee and took antidepressants for a month and now I'm caught up on the research.

What a thrill LOL.

 

I was the same way for months! I was so devastated that I kept dreaming about being back at a concert with no earplugs and having my eardrums blown out. Always variations on that theme, over and over. Just intense fear wrapped up in regret and shame over that one bloody mistake that cost me my job and sanity for a year. To this day, I don't know why I stood there and took the 2 hours of 120-130 dB ear battering, the 5% of my brain that was sober was screaming at me to heed my ears and GTFO, but I just remember not wanting to walk out on one of my favourite bands after they came all the way to Canada. Too god damn polite for my own good! I just figured I'd muscle through it like any sort of injury at work. Plus metal/rock as genres admittedly have some stupid toxic masculinity. "If it's too loud, you're too old." *CRINGE*

I've always admired your courage to keep on truckin' with how absolutely garbage the medical community has treated your condition. I truly hope something gives and you get better, same goes for everyone here. Nobody deserves these wretched hearing disorders. Except maybe Nazis and terrorists.

I've always enjoyed reading your perspective, you can correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like being a math guy you have unique way of approaching problems. It's like you take an alternate route to addressing problems. And even if you arrive at roughly the same conclusion as the rest of us, there's a uniqueness to your methodology that has really challenged me to think outside the box. It's like that square root shit, you know what I mean? Lol.

I like to look at my whole escapade as symbolically drowning and being born anew. And the fact I am beyond lucky to have improved so much is not lost on me. By rights, I should be paying the price for my own stupidity. You don't deserve this, at all. A year plus of intense self-reflection made me realize how much of a ramrod asshole I was (and can still be ) before I got here. Sounds corny but guys like Daniel Lion and Lane here have inspired me to be a better human being, and kill hate with kindness and help.

Yeah, you guys are stuck with my sorry stoned ass I guess, lol.

 

Yeah man! You guys are already sitting on a literal tourism goldmine. Could you imagine if it was legalized and we could take guided tours of the LOTR sets just blazed out of our minds on "Old Tobey"! That would be the ultimate Shire experience for me, lol.

 

Trump would not have tried to tackle federal legalization, but I can't remember him saying anything about any drugs during the administration, other than perhaps mention of the narcotics cartels, and the borders where hard drugs are smuggled through.

NYS is finally going to have Cannabis legalization, but I expect it will take a few years until it's available. I would guess that most people, other than those who grow it themselves, will continue to get it illegally from a connection, to avoid the huge taxes that NYS Governor Andrew "Killer" Cuomo, a Democrat, will no doubt levy on purchases.

 

Eh, that’s not a guarantee, most street drugs are far more expensive than their legal counterpoints. Just look up how much it costs to get opioids on the street versus in the pharmacy, I think I did the math for @Zugzug a few pages ago but most opioids, if sold legally, could have a sales tax twice the national average and still be far cheaper than their illegal counterpart.