[ home ] [ pony / townhall / rp / canterlot / rules ] [ arch ]

/townhall/ - Townhall

A place for civilized animals
Name
Email
Subject
Comment
File
Flags  
Embed
Password (For file deletion.)

 No.2[Reply]

File: 1559435267262.png (905.05 KB, 1280x720, 16:9, Mayor,_Let's_get_galloping….png) ImgOps Google

Welcome to /townhall/! This is an anonymous-only board for debates, dialectics, and discussions of a serious nature.

As the topics discussed on this board may deal with sensitive or controversial subject matter, we expect a higher standard of conduct than elsewhere on the site, and will enforce the board's rules with a greater degree of strictness. Inability or unwillingness to follow the rules will result in a /townhall/-only ban.

 No.3

1) All posts in a given thread must contribute constructively to the conversation, whether agreeing or disagreeing. Off-topic, contentless, inflammatory, or hostile posts will be deleted and result in a ban.

1a) Derails that occur as a natural result of discussion progressing from the original subject will generally not be interfered with; however, if these hinder discussion of the original topic, making a new thread is preferred.

1b) Part of contributing constructively is understanding and addressing the reasoning behind an opposing view. While this can be a tedious task and will generally not be officially enforced, please make an effort to at the very least avoid "talking past" someone when presented with a counterargument. Simply doubling down on your initial point does not advance a discussion.

1c) Be as willing to "lose" as you are to "win", and above all else, be willing to learn and understand. You will not get the most out of this board if your only goal is to persuade, and you will not even be effective at that unless you understand what you are arguing against.


2) Ad hominems and other uncivil behavior will not be tolerated. You may have a significant personal stake in some subjects discussed here, and it is normal to be frustrated when someone cannot relate; however, lashing out is not an effective way to engender sympathy for your position, and will not advance the conversation in a constructive way. Even if you find someone's argument morally abhorrent, there are constructive ways to express this.

2a) Attempting to deliberately provoke an uncivil reaction is prohibited, even if it is done within the letter of the law.

2b) Snark and other forms of mockery are strongly discouraged and may result in warnings or bans.

2c) "Strawmanning" an "opponent" deliberately will be regarded as uncivil conduct and will be dealt with accordingly. This will not apply to genuine misunderstandings.


3) While we do not claim to be arbiters of absolute moral or empirical truth and aim to moderate this board in a fair and even-handed, politically agnostic manner, the following extreme positions are considered "off-limits" regardless of how they are put forward, including attempts to "hint" or dogwhistle:

Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

 No.15142[Reply]

File: 1736104761946.png (287.51 KB, 1111x1001, 101:91, Welcome-To-The-United-King….png) ImgOps Google

Suppose you lived in the United Kingdom, or maybe you already do, and are trying to compare as well as contrast your viewpoints from everybody else that's around you!

Try this quiz!

https://www.britainschoice.uk/the-quiz/

It breaks you up into one of seven little factions and then describes what's going on in the U.K. right now!
2 posts and 2 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15146

>>15143
Nothing against you, or against that result, but I'm now wondering... what's with that guy's arm in the image? It looks off?

 No.15149

File: 1736758689420.png (102.26 KB, 891x501, 297:167, yeah.png) ImgOps Google

...which is weird because I'm not highly-educated, not urban, not in work, hate Labour (at least right now), and try to be apolitical on social media.

But otherwise it's kind of a 'tell me something I don't know' situation.

 No.15154

File: 1736809930525.png (115.9 KB, 1001x818, 1001:818, United-Kingdom-Related-Ima….png) ImgOps Google

>>15142
And doing it myself (again)...

This isn't a surprise for me personally, but there's a lot of context that's also important, particularly since as an Irish-American I wish to see both the destruction of the United Kingdom as a political entity through a United Ireland and also the elimination of the British monarchy as a political entity.

There's also the fact that my hatred for the psychotic and nihilistic rich people in the United Kingdom running the economy into the ground (alongside other forms of idiotic financial policy meant to benefit elite property owners at the expense of everybody else) doesn't mean that I support what're essentially open borders. Neither do I like getting rid of what might call the assimilation process in promoting classical British values. To be frank, I'd agree with the immigration resurrectionists and patriots who talk about heritage and moderating social programs mostly if not maybe entirely, with those groups being on the right-wing usually.

I don't view the British monarchy and the cream-of-the-crop gentry as on 'my side', though, so there I'm totally against the right-wing in the U.K. If anything, I think having endless waves of downtrodden immigrants who destroy health systems, labor union systems, education systems, and other things by their sheer mass is exactly what the oligarchs who live in mansions and hate the poor want. I also share the desire to be far, far tougher on crime and criminals. Which, again, is something that appears to me to benefit the poor rather than the powerful elite, who likely would prefer to rule over a quasi-anarchy keeping the other groups below them unorganized.

From my point of view, left-wing social viewpoints and right-wing economic policies go hand-in-hand while right-wing social viewpoints and left-wing economic policies go hand-in-hand. I suppose. Hard to say that clearly, though.

Eh, it's still all quite interesting! I really think so!

 No.15136[Reply]

File: 1735934439869.jpg (45.36 KB, 1080x720, 3:2, mw.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

>I saw the full Russian/Ukrainian knife fight video

Man fuck that war, always depressing
5 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15150

File: 1736760700277.jpg (280.73 KB, 1290x2046, 215:341, 969dbb5961a6c52dd637df7f09….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

My great-great-uncle lied about his age to go fight the Nazis in France. Two days in he got shot by a sniper and died. Presumably he never even saw combat.

A lot of people die like that in modern warfare. They get blown up or shot somewhere vital and that's it. Taking a human life, robbing two parents of their child, is really too simple.

So honestly? On the face of it, it's just another state-sanctioned murder. But going down staking one's life on a personal test of strength, skill and determination is a far better death than most get. You might still die in the end, but you'll die having forced your killer to look you in the eyes and respect you as a fellow warrior.

Maybe the guy is rolling in his grave reading this post from a person on their PC posting an anime cheerleader, but I'm just trying to see the good in the situation.

 No.15152

>>15136
I honestly hate living in a world in which "Human Safaris!" are a normal, natural thing, with regular civilians living their ordinary lives being intentionally killed by military aircraft.

At the same time, well, I'm positive that this is going to get much, much worse given that less and less governments across Earth care about protecting civilians in wartime, especially when it comes to disabled and elderly people who might be perceived as of less ethical worth than others.

Note: this video does not include clips of the actual "hunting" involved by Russian aircraft and anything related to that. In American terms, it would be something like a 'PG' or 'PG-13' video.

 No.15153

>>15140
>>15141
Yes. That individual, Passionate Lion, is thinking correctly and is right.

 No.15145[Reply]

The Biden administration has recently withdrawn its negotiated rulemaking paperwork for loan forgiveness: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/if-scotus-blocks-student-debt-relief-1965-law-could-be-plan-b, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/26/2024-30606/student-debt-relief-for-the-william-d-ford-federal-direct-loan-program-direct-loans-the-federal.

According to this (https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/Federal%20Undergraduate%20Loan%20Limits%20and%20Inflation.pdf) report from three years ago, student loan borrowing limits have actually decreased by 22% (due to inflation) since 2008 - a bit higher today:

"Federal student loans to undergraduates are subject to annual limits that range from $5,500 to
$12,500. Because the limits are not linked to inflation and lawmakers have not increased them since
2008, their real value today has declined by 22 percent." The report also notes that the rising cost of tuition further erodes the real value of the student financial aid received.

I think that this would cause people to either work (or work more) (leading to increased stress, lowering one's ability to learn) or to attend cheaper, lower-value colleges and online schools.

The Biden administration was trying to help students due to the hardships of COVID-19. I would have expected Republicans to have offered an alternative proposal, such as increased student borrowing limits (which would indicate continued faith in students and learning), in order to keep up with inflation - yet this oddly did not happen. It seems there was no bipartisan effort at all to help students. Have Republicans given up on the American Dream? Are we headed towards the Chinese 996 work schedule, where everyone toils from 9am-9pm, 6 days a week with no hope of advancement in order to not starve? Or, do Republicans have some secret plan for helping students? What would unicorn Saint bookhorsePost too long. Click here to view the full text.

 No.15147

>>15145
Given my academic background and work experience, my first instinct is to look at the student loan crisis from a straightforwardly economic perspective.

Any financial instrument that's an asset, whether we're talking about a group of bonds, a collection of stocks, a couple of accounts receiving loan payments, or whatever else, can be bought directly by the U.S. government for the purposes of regular maintenance, like when it comes to doing anything that you'd want the state to do.

There's really nothing, as far as I can tell, keeping the executive branch from simply buying up between 50% to 100% of the student loan related instruments in the U.S. and just sitting on them as assets. Not bothering to collect any money at any point, with people being able to pay everything back basically whenever. Or, frankly, the government could just discard all of those assets. Something like a grand write-off. Honestly, I would want this to happen were I in any way a part of the government.

 No.15148

>>15147
The leftwing bias of most of higher ed is finally starting to bite it.  Republicans have noticed that most profs and academic departments are quite hostile to Republicans and right-wing ideas.

>>15147
See *Biden v. Nebraska*, 600 U.S. 477 (2023). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden_v._Nebraska

Summary from ChatGPT:
"""
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan was unconstitutional because it exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch under existing laws. Here are the key reasons cited in the ruling:

1. **Separation of Powers**:
  - The Supreme Court determined that the executive branch did not have the unilateral authority to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt without explicit approval from Congress. This was viewed as a violation of the separation of powers, as such a sweeping action requires legislative approval.

2. **Major Questions Doctrine**:
  - The court invoked the *major questions doctrine*, which holds that federal agencies must have clear congressional authorization to take actions of vast economic and political significance. The justices ruled that the law cited by the Biden administration—the HEROES Act of 2003—did not explicitly grant the authority to implement such widespread debt cancellation.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

 No.15151

>>15148
Yes, for the federal government to just seize any financial entity of any kind requires a hell of a lot of things to be true in the first place in order to make it clear that some special circumstances apply. Otherwise, one ought to respect the way in which a free market with private property rules works. That makes sense to me as well.

Otherwise, naturally, America would become like modern China and Russia in which those in the legislature can just straight up steal a company that they personally want to have, based on nothing other than "Gimme!". Or anybody else in the government doing whatever the hell that they want, with regular people having no sense of there being a rule-of-law that applies fairly. I think Iran also isn't much different either.

The most reasonable thing would be the most rational thing, as stated in >>15147 in detail, with Congress and the executive branch just passing ordinary laws that allow student loan related financial instruments to simply be bought fair-and-square.

 No.15106[Reply]

.

 No.15109

File: 1735023204891.jpg (314.67 KB, 1080x1857, 360:619, Screenshot_20241224_005056….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Shooting somebody until they die is an act of murder.

Preventing a cancer patient from being able to heal themselves and doing that over and over again until they die is also an act of murder.

It's not exactly difficult to understand why a murderer being themselves murdered generates complex, mixed feelings among innocent bystanders such as myself and the OP.

As has been pointed out many times and many ways, this CEO would literally still be alive if he didn't head an organization that genuinely makes money from causing other people's deaths. He would be walking and talking in perfect health today if he had made better choices in his life. CEOs in charge of companies that bake bread, manufacture cars, repair computers, print books, grill fish, and the like felt no fear of any kind after this assassination. For obvious reasons.

 No.15135

The issue at hand should not be about whether Luigi Mangione is a terrorist or not.

The discussion to be had is how to ensure that the average American citizen has access to quality affordable healthcare. Especially now that Medicare/Medicaid are on the chopping block.
Because it seems Health insurance companies are eating away the funds of their customers while denying any request where they have to pay out, resulting in people still not receiving any decent care despite spending what little money they have.

 No.15125[Reply]

File: 1735257443181.png (413.41 KB, 1079x1162, 13:14, Screenshot_20241226-183339.png) ImgOps Google

What should be the cap on how many immigrants and temporary workers (e.g., H-1B and O-1) are allowed into the US annually?  I think there is a trade-off here between benefitting from talented immigrants and ensuring that they adequately assimilate and we preserve American culture.  I'd tentatively suggest a total cap of 1.6 million adults (equal to 1% of the US labor force).  
2 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15132

>>15131
> At least from my point of view. But my point of view doesn't matter because I'm not American.

90% of the far right victories in Europe are set over immigration.

It's the main reason why people voted UK to leave.

While the current issue is another part framed in recent US politics, this is relevant in the Western world entirely.

 No.15133

>>15131
It should be noted that the OP image and OP text as well as >>15126 as a response all describe a large number of immigrants coming to the U.S., at the level of hundreds of thousands of people moving, instead of a closed border coming into being with nobody going anywhere.

So, the question of the thread isn't "Should mass immigration to the U.S. be allowed, legally and morally?" but is actually "How and why exactly should mass immigration to the U.S. take place, if will occur in the future?".

 No.15134

>>15132
Understandable. We should strive to be more like post brexit UK.

 No.15127[Reply]

File: 1735446795563.jpeg (64.6 KB, 500x500, 1:1, random_16.jpeg) ImgOps Google

Should the IRB bureaucratic process be streamlined to enable faster and less expensive advancement of science?

 No.15128

What is the IRB? I know what an IRB is but not The IRB.

 No.15129

>>15128
This is a good read:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/29/my-irb-nightmare/

 No.15130

>>15129
I see. It sounds like that man had a shitty IRB.

I was confused since the question implied the existence of a centralized universal Internal Review Board.

 No.15107[Reply]

File: 1735008051209.jpg (328.31 KB, 1080x1880, 27:47, Screenshot_20241223_203828….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Why do humans live next to volcanos, like with basically everywhere this occuring throughout the history of time?

Couldn't you literally just choose to not be besides volcanoes?

This seems like something that the human species collectively should learn at some point?
4 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15120

We need to get rid of pedophile trannies to be honest

 No.15122

>>15115
Alright. And how regularly does it blow, otherwise?

 No.15124

>>15122
This is very a good question, and the smattering of news articles that I've seen that I remember appear to describe six eruptions happening in the past four years, counting what just happened as well as these including calm-ish situations where not that much material got actually squirted out.

I'm aware that "six in a period of four years" can be converted by easy and simple math to "???? per year", but I'm too mentally fried at the moment to do that, honestly.

Feel free to check this for yourself, using other news agencies if you want, of course.

 No.15092[Reply]

File: 1734775082160.png (929.1 KB, 1468x1075, 1468:1075, Do you have time to yiff a….png) ImgOps Google

Should eurobeat be the new anthem of EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY? I feel like it can bring us all together
1 post omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15097

File: 1734904279770.jpg (2.7 MB, 2893x4092, 263:372, c08a80dcb24e78e85f9b17db14….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Yes.

 No.15102

Maybe. What do you think?

 No.15123

I would love to make more eurobeat some day. Haven't got a professional studio, but it doesn't stop me from giving it a go in some less expensive software.

 No.15111[Reply]

File: 1735024122013.jpg (220.24 KB, 1080x1230, 36:41, Screenshot_20241224_010252….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Why is it morally and legally acceptable to cheat on your wife or girlfriend, to have sex with prostitutes, and to use illicit drugs for recreational purposes if you're a Republican or some other supporter of Donald Trump?

Like why does being a Republican or otherwise supporting Donald Trump mean that moral and ethical standards that apply to everybody else don't apply to you, because you've got some kind of license to do whatever?

How does this make sense when the upcoming Trump administration and other government officials are trying to make being transgender, watching hentai, chatting with lewd AI, and all of these other things illegal because of "violating traditional morality"?

If I loudly and publicly say that I love Trump and give his political organizations money, does that mean that I can enjoy whatever I want in my personal life without having to have it controlled by traditional moral demands about how sex is evil, drugs are evil, and so on?
3 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15117

>>15116

>At what point in my life am I going to be free without somebody needing to keep me from "sinning" against my will?

Join a liberal religion that accepts everyone, like Unitarianism, Unitarian Universalism, some denominations of liberal Christianity (United Church of Christ, some (non-conservative conference) Congregationalist Churches, meditation groups, etc. ...

>Should I like fake marrying somebody and fake going to church a lot while faking donating to certain political organizations... or what has to happen before I'm able to just be left alone?

Nah, don't do that. Christian fundamentalists are only fighting so hard because their influence is waning.

 No.15118

>>15116
In the case of the tale in OP, I guess the way would be to get the media to constantly lie and attack you, to the point where nobody believes them and nobody cares even if the claims were to be true.

 No.15121

>>15117
>Christian fundamentalists are only fighting so hard because their influence is waning.
HUH?

They're stronger than they've been in years. They've literally gotten to control both Congress and the Supreme Court. They're also now about to control the U.S. Presidency again.

If anything, I'm trying hard to figure out how to fake being one myself, lately.

 No.15098[Reply]

Friendly reminder that multiple American businesses steal your personal information for malicious purposes after they spy on it when you file job applications.

 No.15101

>>15098

Not once in my life has any company ever applied to me for my merits or even so much as inquired about them. I assume it's true for everyone else, as well.

 No.15104


 No.15105

>>15098
>>15101
>>15104

 No.15084[Reply]

File: 1734746637756.png (296.04 KB, 1080x1228, 270:307, Screenshot_20241220-210143.png) ImgOps Google

Why is the legacy media blaming self-driving cars for the actions of a migrant from Saudi Arabia?
6 posts and 2 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15096

File: 1734904184511.jpg (138.24 KB, 600x800, 3:4, 34d47f327806e91cf15a563f85….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

>>15084
Poor choice of words, nothing more.

Also, the guy is an Islamophobe. He was recognised as a refugee from his home country and 'has promoted conspiracy theories regarding an alleged plot by German authorities to Islamicise Europe'. It's funny that the very bigots who'd otherwise agree with him are now accusing him of being part of the problem just because of his country of origin.

 No.15099

File: 1734920215999.jpeg (179.82 KB, 999x1313, 999:1313, GfU-fHBXYAAcfRN.jpeg) ImgOps Google

>>15096
>the guy is an Islamophobe
So he claimed.  But yet, it was quite a convenient claim for him to make, as the claim led Germany to grant him asylum and refuse to extradite him to Saudi Arabia.  And he chose to attack ethnically German Christians at a Christmas market rather than attacking a mosque.  His true motivation remains a mystery IMHO.

 No.15103

>>15099
Hating Catholics for being Catholic and hating Sunni Muslims for being Sunni aren't really mutually exclusive religious positions. In fairness. They're not inherently connected in the first place, even.

It's sort of like learning that somebody hates both playing chess and playing tennis, or hates both eating almonds and eating lettuce, or hates both 'Star Trek' and 'Warhammer 40K', et cetera.

The real story is still that the evil Saudi dictatorship and its cronies should be opposed and its agenda fought, regardless of your own religious beliefs.

 No.15052[Reply]

File: 1733324315595.jpg (118.2 KB, 720x960, 3:4, God Emperor Trump.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Russia wants to use ICBM's in the Ukraine. He is the only one that can stop them.
8 posts and 4 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15065

>>15052
As somebody who was alive when George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and George Bush Jr. were all President during the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, I find it rather horrifying that some or most Americans are so incredibly Goddamn stupid that they think that U.S. foreign policy was a wonderful act of intelligence and ethical standards, with no flaws and no issues causing massive death as well as huge wastes of money, before the year of our Lord numbered 2016 rolled around.

And so literally everything absolutely is either all Biden's fault or all Trump's fault. People get really, seriously mad when you point out all of these facts from prior years. They act like they need to punch you in the face due to their ignorance.

Fuck.

Honestly, I wish I lot of the time I was just a complete dumbass who didn't understand how current foreign policy problems go back to decisions undertaken over ten years ago.

Not being an insane partisan idiot is a real curse. Fuck America. And Americans. For real. Only a tiny handful seem to have the basic intelligence enough to be worthy to vote.

 No.15093

File: 1734776200411.png (867.93 KB, 1132x803, 1132:803, Imperial Guard drop pod.png) ImgOps Google

God I can't wait until the end of the year, when our GOD EMPEROR can take his place as such

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzPuK1vib_c&t=1s

 No.15100

>>15093

Wait, you mean his term still isn't over yet?

 No.15080[Reply]

.

 No.15088

File: 1734767959388.jpg (98.75 KB, 696x494, 348:247, Lisa-Wants-You-To-Stop-Bei….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Making basic parts of human decency "political" in the first place is wrong.

 No.15077[Reply]

File: 1734235391171.jpg (1.37 MB, 3024x2556, 84:71, 20241208_200628.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

How many rabbits would you ideally like to have around where you live, if you somehow could pick any number you wish? And why would that be?

Posted here instead of /pony/ since it technically is an argument even if it's not political.
2 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.15082

File: 1734334084710.jpg (6.03 KB, 300x168, 25:14, lightbulb.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

none, because the act of choosing a number of rabbits to see would render seeing one meaningless

 No.15083

>>15082
This appears to be some kind of psychological jujitsu that I don't understand, man!

 No.15087

File: 1734762351817.jpg (10.95 KB, 300x168, 25:14, man.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

>>15083

[]
Previous [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
[ home ] [ pony / townhall / rp / canterlot / rules ] [ arch ]