One of the best things to come out of the Georgia election was Bernie Sanders becoming the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, this is such great news for the World, for all the US and its struggling millions, some hope is restored 

Today I learned that a big portion of Puerto Ricans actually don't want to become a state. The biggest cons seem to be money related. I guess that is a valid reason. But who knows how many of them have been brainwashed by lies.

If Democrats really wanted they could make both PR and DC states. I hope they do, though it's gonna be a shitload of work for them.

The last referendum was held in November 2020 when roughly 53% voted for statehood. I don't know where you learn from (FoxNews?), but this sounds like  a majority..

Not if you honestly consider something as foolish and retarded as this coordinated. More like discoordinated. 

And of course there were nutjobs, some actually intent on terrorist attempts (the IED creators). I mean, did anyone really think these guys had any chance of success whatsoever? 

I mean, would you call five people, most of them clear nutjobs from the farthest ends of the political fringe, entering the capitol with handguns, if that, insurrectionists? You haven't seen how an actual revolution or insurrection looks like if this even looks marginally like that. 

This could be many things: a failed terror attempt, a breach of Federal Property and even an attempt at political assassination, but an insurrection is way too wide in its standard definition. A riot and a march could be considered an insurrection. You are using insurrection to mean coup, and a coup requires the overthrowing of a government. What chances did you think there were that this happened? 

I mean, removing Congress from the equation does not decommission the entirety of the US government, you know? 

Riot for sure, terror attempt likely. A coup? Even a coup attempt? There are plenty of actual states who underwent coups that are probably laughing at the notion this could've prospered beyond a shitshow. 

Need I bring the amount of times protesters have intruded upon the lower chambers of other countries' Congresses/Parliaments? Because this has happened beforehand. 

The thing is, a single or even a couple jackasses with Molotov Cocktails have a negligible shot at doing this. Not to mention some people are calling it the worst thing to have happened in all of US History. At least the last statement is a blatant lie. 

To prove they aren't going to ignore something like this? 

We all know this damage was already there. He just hammered the nail in. 

Not this far. This would actually worsen things unless they put it in the freezer and revisit it a few years from now and by then, the man may not even be alive. 

As a whole, I'm more curious how in the world did Capitol Police let them in. 

While 53% is the majority, the 47% that are left are still a pretty big portion in and itself.

Except that's not true at all. This nonsense ideal that both sides should be equally represented is a farce, one meant to not ruffle feathers rather than come to the truth of reality. Take the Climate Change discussion and debate...which in the eyes of the scientific community is NOT a debate at all. Yet, when people are debating it, the sides are presented as equal when in reality it's like 49:1 in favour of 'climate change is real and influenced by us'. But if a site or show allows 98% of the time to go to one side, they come across as biased even though...you know...that's what the consensus agrees upon by a rather wide margin. 

This is false equivalency. Not reality. 

Never said it wasn't a majority. That's why I said "big portion". As in a portion that shouldn't be as big. 47% is a lot bigger than the 0% I expected.

Not sure where you learned that "big portion" means majority (Parler perhaps?).

And furthermore, 1:1 evidence on either side is just a number. Quality of information and sources is just as important. You should trust the word of your doctor over Gail with the Essential Oils business when it comes to medical advice. you should listen to climate scientists over politicians when it comes to climate change. you should listen to actual professionals in the mental health field over your cousin cletus when discussing the importance of mental stability and safe spaces.

The reality of the situation is that shit's far more complicated than binary arguments would lead you to believe and it's baffling how grown-assed adults actually think doing 30 minutes of google research should command the same respect as a person who's job it is to research immunization and has been for the last 12 years when discussing whether or not vaccines are bad.

Sources are important. Value is important. actual understanding of the topic instead of a surface level reading of the topic matters. Like, remember back in the 90's, someone took out an ad saying that you should remove dihydrogen monoxide from your diet. It's involved with millions of deaths worldwide, can kill you if it gets in your lungs, and is a key component in the oxidization of rust. all these things are true, but dihydrogen monoxide is water. H2O. IT's the same thing with MErcury in vaccines. Pure mercury is bad, no doubt. Do not drink that shit. But mercury as a part of a chemical compound has vastly different properties than pure mercury. THAT is why it's important to listen to those who know what they're talking about. So many of these points in this thread and in this topic in general are SO much more complicated in reality than the left vs right arguments would have you believe.

And you know what side tends to go with scientific progress? With technological advances? with more subtle, nuanced discussion on complicated topics? The left. It's not the left denying climate change or gender development. IT's not the left refusing to accept that gays and trans folks are legitimate and valid. IT's not liberals pushing for creationism in the school system. It's the left pushing progress. IT's conservatives resisting progress. I don't even want to get into economics or military spending, because that's something that we can focus on later. Right now, we gotta make progress. We do better as a whole when we work together and when science is given focus and respect. We progress when progress is allowed.

The core tenets of modern conservatism is the value of the self and the individual. Personal freedom and responsibility. That's all well and good and personal freedom should not be tampered with, but we collectively do a WHOLE LOT better when we work together, something that socialism literally stands for.

And I don't even wanna get into the debates about personal liberty and the hypocrisy of the alt-right. (Everyone deserves their own freedom to not be harassed by the government or have your personal cash taken....but don't you dare let gays marry, something that doesn't affect me at all!)

While you aren't wrong, I feel like the original point wasn't saying "There is information on both sides, so both perspectives are valid", but instead simply talking about how the internet plays into confirmation biases. There is a lot of writing about the idea that more information doesn't cause people to trend towards the scientific consensus. Because there is information to back up every perspective, even if that information is poorly supported, we essentially fall victim to information overload, which causes us to validate our own subjective opinions instead of seeking more objective measures or doing the hard work of validating and checking sources. 

The point I'm trying to make here and why this is so important is that there's a reason I side with the left more than the right. There's a clear distinction between the sides, and much of that distinction is a person's level of intelligence. I remember reading a thing about how 'colleges are pushing propaganda for the left!' and the scare mongering that comes with it. The reality is that, when you actually understand what the fuck you're talking about, you tend to err on the left because that's where all the smart people go. The scientists and researchers who actually understand endocrinology and climate science and history tend to agree...the current right is outright villainous and frankly ignorant of the nuance of the situation. Almost every argument I've had on the matter boils down to my opponent just not understanding the depth of the topic at hand and woefully butchering the details that explain why they think they're right.

I tend to not get involved in a lot of point by point breakdowns of different topics and I try to avoid responding to every paragraph someone writes because 90% of my rebuttal would boil down to 'no, that's wrong. you don't know what you're talking about' followed by 3 paragraphs explaining things in more detail. I'm not getting paid to educate people on the chemical composition or biological mechanisms involved in vaccine use, and in my 20+ years of debating this shit on the internet, I've come to learn that the people who are on the wrong side of the debate have no interest in learning, they just act like their feelings and passion on a topic are enough to validate their opinions. 

Like I've said before, there are plenty of discussion topics out there with lots to say on both sides of the debate. I'm pro-choice but I understand the reasoning and logic behind pro-life arguments (I just personally feel that your own life is your own choice, and you shouldn't be forced to bring life into this world if you cannot give that life...a life worth living.) I know from research that capital punishment/death penalty doesn't work, it isn't a deterrent, and it definitely isn't applied equally to all those who are handed that sentence....but I still have no problem with it in some cases. Again, I understand when you disagree with the science, or personally feel your values supercede the hard numbers. I get that cold hard reality doesn't always square up with your values and opinions on the matter. 

The issue is that, with some things, you need to concede. I know I'm wrong for my opinions on the death penalty, but my emotions often don't care about the facts when I read about some of the things people do. I can be objective on a subject while still having a subjective opinion. I would never try to force my opinions on certain matters on others.

But a lot of what's going on right now? The systemic racism, the climate change denial, the ignorance about Covid and vaccines in general? These are all issues that are having massive effects on the world and the people that inhabit it. Bad information spreads so quickly and so virulently that it's hurting us all. And in this situation, I don't give a shit about your opinions on the matter, not when the lives of...what, 400,000 Americans is at stake? I don't give a flying fuck if you're mildly inconvenienced when you're expected to wear a mask. PErsonal freedom is great and all, but if your decision to push your personal freedom infringes on the freedoms and safety of others, then fuck your personal freedoms. 

This is LITERALLY why we have a legal system in place. That's why laws exist. That's why we have law enforcement. Freedom is great, but mutual success is better.