4 ms·

You elect clowns, you get a circus. The US has turned into a Wall-e society just getting off on entertainment and bored with civilized, thoughtful politicians.

by abraxas 7mo ago

You elect clowns, you get a circus. The US has turned into a Wall-e society just getting off on entertainment and bored with civilized, thoughtful politicians. This is the end result of TOO MUCH prosperity for the average American. They haven't experienced true hardship in generations and we (the rest of the world) is paying the price of their hubris.

pstuart 7mo ago
Watching helplessly from the inside is painful. What makes it worse is I know people who are intelligent and appear to not be hateful SOBs that voted for the clowns, and would do so again. It breaks my brain, and my heart.
- abraxas 7mo ago
  Perhaps they are not as intelligent as you think they are.
  - pstuart 7mo ago
    I believe that highly intelligent people can do incredibly stupid things -- I've seen it first hand. The correlating factor for those two acquaintances is that they are both devout Christians. I find that to be beyond ironic but also makes sense, as that devotion parallels the appeal to authority and many churches are run by leaders who believe in Supply Side Jesus. I don't mean this to be inflammatory as it's only an observation, but organized religion is not compatible with modern society,
    - throwup238 7mo ago
      You’re not the first to make such observations. To quote Barry Goldwater (Republican party nominee for US President in 1964): > Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.
      - bdangubic 7mo ago
        Was he describing America or Iran? Hard to figure out as we seemed to be in War due to similar people in control of another (not)important country :)
        pstuart 7mo ago
        It was about America. I think the only overlap between "conservative" Republicans and religious fundamentalists is the "social conservatism", e.g., "family values", "law and order", etc. The quotes are because there's debate about what those terms really mean. The key difference is that religious fundamentalists pledge their allegiance to the Church, not the country; not "God" either (although they might claim it to be so). They are tribal to their core and anybody outside their church is an "other" and is not worthy of being considered a fellow citizen.
    - Terr_ 7mo ago
      > correlating factor There's a free ebook from 2006 that tries to dive into it as a personality spectrum: https://theauthoritarians.org/ https://theauthoritarians.org/ It has some interesting assertions/observations about issues like double-standards and fear as a motive.
    - enaaem 7mo ago
      Ironically Jesus always had beef with the religious conservatives of His time: the Pharisees.
    - Shocka1 7mo ago
      I agree with your last organized religion comment somewhat, but the jump to devout Christians based off some anecdotes comes off as a bit prejudiced. The "not trying to be inflammatory" is a decent pre-emptive hedge attempt, but still falls flat when reading. This is a pattern I see here sometimes, which is criticism of religion drifting into assumptions about specific groups, and it tends to weaken an argument that was otherwise reasonable. And I'm saying this as someone who is extremely critical of Christianity. The truth is that people are perfectly capable of making bad decisions regardless of their beliefs. Appealing to authority is not unique to religion. You see this same thing in corporate environments, academic circles, political groups, etc... It's probably more useful to focus on that broader dynamic than tie it to a specific group.
      - pstuart 7mo ago
        I take no pleasure in my assessment at all, and I would love to be proven wrong. Let me give you one of countless examples of why I said what I did: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-prayer-violence-pentagon https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-pray... There plenty of other criticisms of groups and systems and people in general. But the "God Says So" crowd is very real and has been with us the whole time. I consider myself to be deeply spiritual and understand the appeal and would even join in the faith if I thought it was real. But I don't. I wish I didn't have to pay any attention to it or care about it or think about it at all. But I do. The reason I care, and I speak up about it, is that there are factions in power that embody exactly what my "prejudice" criticizes. This is everyone's business because they are making their faith everyone's business. Edit: I believe this dialog is germane to HN because the subject is literally about the hacking of democracy itself.
        Shocka1 6mo ago
        I'm not sure what there is to prove wrong. You are biased and have a heart at war against Christianity. There is no way I will convince you of anything. This is a very common bias - I actually shared it at one point years ago. The same line of thinking can be applied to a lot of different groups. I don't really read the news, so thanks for that link. I am not so sure Hegseth and Co. are great examples of Christianity. I'm also thinking Jesus would not approve of “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy", so the dude's prayers probably will go unnoticed. That political/news sphere doesn't represent Christianity at all IMO and is all just noise. I personally saw thousands of Christians and secular people volunteer side by side during the TN and NC floods. There were even some Islamic people in there as well. It was really wonderful. There are a lot of good people out there, whether Christian or not. Unfortunately the worst are the best at speaking the loudest. And I'm telling ya... I am harder on Christians than any other type of person, because they should be held to a higher standard. Anyway, instead of being proven wrong, I'd probably just get out and meet some good people, Christian, Muslim, whatever. Have a good time, make some great friends, and definitely not pay attention to the news.
- estearum 7mo ago
  IMO those people you're describing are the worst of them all. I can forgive someone too (legitimately) stupid to know better. But many people are not that. https://www.onthewing.org/user/Bonhoeffer%20-%20Theory%20of%20Stupidity.pdf https://www.onthewing.org/user/Bonhoeffer%20-%20Theory%20of%...
- ActorNightly 7mo ago
  >know people who are intelligent and appear to not be hateful SOBs that voted for the clowns, and would do so again. They are not intelligent. People seem to think that intelligence can be isolated. Its not. People can fake intelligence through memorizing a bunch of facts, but that's not intelligence. Every part in a persons mind influences every other part. And its easy to test as well. Nobody who is hard conservative can answer this simple question - "What concrete, hard evidence would you need to see for you to realize you have been wrong and change your stance on which party you support?" Its along the same lines that any stupid person doesn't realize they are stupid - if they did, they would know the differentiator between smart and stupid and thus can become smart.
Dig1t 7mo ago
From the article: >Israel could force the United States into a war with Iran at any time. >It should go without saying that creating the conditions where the sometimes unpredictable junior partner in a security relationship can unilaterally bring the senior partner into a major conflict is an enormous strategic error, precisely because it means you end up in a war when it is in the junior partner’s interests to do so even if it is not in the senior partner’s interests to do so. This situation is not just because we elected a clown, these people donated hundreds of millions to Trump's campaign (Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson, Larry Elison, etc). The same lobby (the Israel lobby) has contributed hundreds of millions more to almost every US senator, to the point that both political parties are pretty much aligned when it comes to serving Israel. There are plenty of politicians in the Democrat party who are quietly supporting this war because at the end of the day they've been bought by the same lobby. Kamala (the alternative candidate in the 2024 election) has her own ties to Israel, and publicly said "all options are on the table" to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Which means had she won the election she likely would have also invaded Iran. It goes beyond just who we elected, it's huge sums of money flowing through our political system and effectively buying our politicians.
- abraxas 7mo ago
  Nonsense. Of course Democrats are also on Israel's side. The US will always take Israel's side in any Middle East dispute. But it's only this infantile man and his clown cart that is stupid enough to go along with any and every hare brained idea that Israel puts forth.
- mrguyorama 7mo ago
  We had Israel friendly politicians for at least 50 years, all of which who eagerly wanted to fuck up Iran ("Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" anyone?) and we didn't because they were at least sober enough to understand that it was moronic and would obviously be some sort of strategic defeat or decades long boondoggle. No president has ever been this fucking stupid.
  - dripdry45 7mo ago
    Look, if the goal over the last year has been to destroy America, it’s economy, it’s reputation… you basically couldn’t pick a better set of actions. It seems pretty obvious that they’re trying to turn America into Russia. Crash everything, and let the oligarchs swoop in and buy up the shattered pieces. Then keep the people divided and depressed using media and drugs.
Valakas_ 7mo ago
“Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders." George Carlin

by abraxas 7mo ago

pstuart 7mo ago

Watching helplessly from the inside is painful. What makes it worse is I know people who are intelligent and appear to not be hateful SOBs that voted for the clowns, and would do so again. It breaks my brain, and my heart.

abraxas 7mo ago
Perhaps they are not as intelligent as you think they are.
- pstuart 7mo ago
  I believe that highly intelligent people can do incredibly stupid things -- I've seen it first hand. The correlating factor for those two acquaintances is that they are both devout Christians. I find that to be beyond ironic but also makes sense, as that devotion parallels the appeal to authority and many churches are run by leaders who believe in Supply Side Jesus. I don't mean this to be inflammatory as it's only an observation, but organized religion is not compatible with modern society,
  - throwup238 7mo ago
    You’re not the first to make such observations. To quote Barry Goldwater (Republican party nominee for US President in 1964): > Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.
    - bdangubic 7mo ago
      Was he describing America or Iran? Hard to figure out as we seemed to be in War due to similar people in control of another (not)important country :)
      - pstuart 7mo ago
        It was about America. I think the only overlap between "conservative" Republicans and religious fundamentalists is the "social conservatism", e.g., "family values", "law and order", etc. The quotes are because there's debate about what those terms really mean. The key difference is that religious fundamentalists pledge their allegiance to the Church, not the country; not "God" either (although they might claim it to be so). They are tribal to their core and anybody outside their church is an "other" and is not worthy of being considered a fellow citizen.
  - Terr_ 7mo ago
    > correlating factor There's a free ebook from 2006 that tries to dive into it as a personality spectrum: https://theauthoritarians.org/ https://theauthoritarians.org/ It has some interesting assertions/observations about issues like double-standards and fear as a motive.
  - enaaem 7mo ago
    Ironically Jesus always had beef with the religious conservatives of His time: the Pharisees.
  - Shocka1 7mo ago
    I agree with your last organized religion comment somewhat, but the jump to devout Christians based off some anecdotes comes off as a bit prejudiced. The "not trying to be inflammatory" is a decent pre-emptive hedge attempt, but still falls flat when reading. This is a pattern I see here sometimes, which is criticism of religion drifting into assumptions about specific groups, and it tends to weaken an argument that was otherwise reasonable. And I'm saying this as someone who is extremely critical of Christianity. The truth is that people are perfectly capable of making bad decisions regardless of their beliefs. Appealing to authority is not unique to religion. You see this same thing in corporate environments, academic circles, political groups, etc... It's probably more useful to focus on that broader dynamic than tie it to a specific group.
    - pstuart 7mo ago
      I take no pleasure in my assessment at all, and I would love to be proven wrong. Let me give you one of countless examples of why I said what I did: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-prayer-violence-pentagon https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-pray... There plenty of other criticisms of groups and systems and people in general. But the "God Says So" crowd is very real and has been with us the whole time. I consider myself to be deeply spiritual and understand the appeal and would even join in the faith if I thought it was real. But I don't. I wish I didn't have to pay any attention to it or care about it or think about it at all. But I do. The reason I care, and I speak up about it, is that there are factions in power that embody exactly what my "prejudice" criticizes. This is everyone's business because they are making their faith everyone's business. Edit: I believe this dialog is germane to HN because the subject is literally about the hacking of democracy itself.
      - Shocka1 6mo ago
        I'm not sure what there is to prove wrong. You are biased and have a heart at war against Christianity. There is no way I will convince you of anything. This is a very common bias - I actually shared it at one point years ago. The same line of thinking can be applied to a lot of different groups. I don't really read the news, so thanks for that link. I am not so sure Hegseth and Co. are great examples of Christianity. I'm also thinking Jesus would not approve of “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy", so the dude's prayers probably will go unnoticed. That political/news sphere doesn't represent Christianity at all IMO and is all just noise. I personally saw thousands of Christians and secular people volunteer side by side during the TN and NC floods. There were even some Islamic people in there as well. It was really wonderful. There are a lot of good people out there, whether Christian or not. Unfortunately the worst are the best at speaking the loudest. And I'm telling ya... I am harder on Christians than any other type of person, because they should be held to a higher standard. Anyway, instead of being proven wrong, I'd probably just get out and meet some good people, Christian, Muslim, whatever. Have a good time, make some great friends, and definitely not pay attention to the news.
estearum 7mo ago
IMO those people you're describing are the worst of them all. I can forgive someone too (legitimately) stupid to know better. But many people are not that. https://www.onthewing.org/user/Bonhoeffer%20-%20Theory%20of%20Stupidity.pdf https://www.onthewing.org/user/Bonhoeffer%20-%20Theory%20of%...
ActorNightly 7mo ago
>know people who are intelligent and appear to not be hateful SOBs that voted for the clowns, and would do so again. They are not intelligent. People seem to think that intelligence can be isolated. Its not. People can fake intelligence through memorizing a bunch of facts, but that's not intelligence. Every part in a persons mind influences every other part. And its easy to test as well. Nobody who is hard conservative can answer this simple question - "What concrete, hard evidence would you need to see for you to realize you have been wrong and change your stance on which party you support?" Its along the same lines that any stupid person doesn't realize they are stupid - if they did, they would know the differentiator between smart and stupid and thus can become smart.

Dig1t 7mo ago

From the article: >Israel could force the United States into a war with Iran at any time. >It should go without saying that creating the conditions where the sometimes unpredictable junior partner in a security relationship can unilaterally bring the senior partner into a major conflict is an enormous strategic error, precisely because it means you end up in a war when it is in the junior partner’s interests to do so even if it is not in the senior partner’s interests to do so. This situation is not just because we elected a clown, these people donated hundreds of millions to Trump's campaign (Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson, Larry Elison, etc). The same lobby (the Israel lobby) has contributed hundreds of millions more to almost every US senator, to the point that both political parties are pretty much aligned when it comes to serving Israel. There are plenty of politicians in the Democrat party who are quietly supporting this war because at the end of the day they've been bought by the same lobby. Kamala (the alternative candidate in the 2024 election) has her own ties to Israel, and publicly said "all options are on the table" to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Which means had she won the election she likely would have also invaded Iran. It goes beyond just who we elected, it's huge sums of money flowing through our political system and effectively buying our politicians.

abraxas 7mo ago
Nonsense. Of course Democrats are also on Israel's side. The US will always take Israel's side in any Middle East dispute. But it's only this infantile man and his clown cart that is stupid enough to go along with any and every hare brained idea that Israel puts forth.
mrguyorama 7mo ago
We had Israel friendly politicians for at least 50 years, all of which who eagerly wanted to fuck up Iran ("Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" anyone?) and we didn't because they were at least sober enough to understand that it was moronic and would obviously be some sort of strategic defeat or decades long boondoggle. No president has ever been this fucking stupid.
- dripdry45 7mo ago
  Look, if the goal over the last year has been to destroy America, it’s economy, it’s reputation… you basically couldn’t pick a better set of actions. It seems pretty obvious that they’re trying to turn America into Russia. Crash everything, and let the oligarchs swoop in and buy up the shattered pieces. Then keep the people divided and depressed using media and drugs.

Valakas_ 7mo ago

“Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders." George Carlin