October....thread of the month nominations

Shangrila · Oct 1, 2015

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Please post both the entire text and link, along with brief explanation why you find your nomination worthwhile.
Members are encouraged to like their favorite thread. At the end of the month, staff will count the likes and announce the best thread winner.
We are hoping and emphasizing that members should only nominate threads that meet all posting rules and guidelines. Removing inappropriate nominations will be at the discretion of the PF staff.

Doug_yvr · Oct 3, 2015

This is a good candidate for Thread of the Month. LeeroyHim found an interesting poll result and presented it in a well organized manner with the added bonus of a pun. His comments compliment the material in the post very nicely.

LeeroyHim said: ↑

Seems like good old Ben has finally broken through the wall of Trump, pun intended.

Also, evidently Bernie has no chance at all if Biden runs. Who seems to be gaining more favorability the more he retends to run without actually running.

Other takes from this, Carly's flash is moving away and will fall to her doom, definitely if she brings in her CEO "credentials" again, which will finish her off. Rubio seems to be grabbing the people who are jumping from bush after his lack of gains after the Scott Walker crisis.

ONE OTHER thing to note is RYAN is in the votes, showing that there is still a pool of voters who weren't around during Trumps Summer exlodaganza, as I have told another user here recently. Trump may stay in the race until after the next debate, but I think once more of the pool jumps on board for their preferred candidates, a lot of them will rise and fall now that the "hype" is over.

I personally called it that Carson would be within the top candidates when people wrote him off immediately as Herman Cain 2.0, and then ignored him as not a serious competitor since he announce his candidacy, to the first debate, to the second debate, and now his "controversial" and also spun comments about Islam.
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Shangrila · Oct 13, 2015

No comment needed

Kranes56 said: ↑

I have a confession to make. Theres a reason I havent been posting on PF lately, and I want to make something clear right now. I have never physically hurt myself, or anyone else. Im saying Im better now because before I was in a very dark place and now I want to let PF, the community and dare I say family that raised me needs to know. For those that dont know who I am, Im a 20 year old college student thats been posting on and off PF for years now. This is where I debated people when OBL was killed and shrugged at the 2012 elections. In short, this is my home away from home.

When I first started posting on PF, it was when I was 15. Most 15 year olds dont go to online forums and debate politics. Well, theres a reason for that. I used to say that there were 2 ways I was going to die. The first, get hit by a bus while biking. Then a doctor would try to save me and I would die on him. Then the doctor would go through his own story of life and death and somehow end up with chainsaws for hands. The second way (and to most casual onlookers probably what was going to happen.) was dementia. It runs in my family and I will probably have it one day. But there was a third way as well, and if I continued on the path that I was on, it was going to have been how I was going to die.

Suicide. I was planning on killing myself. What I wanted to do was to do something amazing in the world, then kill myself. I wanted to accomplish something so astounding my name would go down in the history books, and then like an aged warrior, enjoy my well earned rest. Why not do it now instead of wait years? I thought I was so worthless, that no one was going to care. If I killed myself, no one was going to notice or even really bother remembering me. I would just be another statistic. And I was taught at a very young age to be a role model and a good person. In my twisted logic, I was trying to help people.

So where does PF fit into all of this? To be fair, when I first started posting it was because I felt powerless and wanted to do something to help advance causes I believe in (LGBT rights being the major reason why). But as time went on, it served a few functions. For my suicide plan, everyone on it was my teacher. They were the people that taught me how to think about the world and how to interact with it. They were the people who actually gave me lessons I would need to use in order to go through with my plan. In other words, PF was my way of not only trying to gain some measure of control over my life, but also to advance my own death.
Now, I have since realized that thinking like that is terrible and it should never be done. I got the help I needed and I can safely say that I am no longer thinking like that. But that doesnt really explain why I dont need PF anymore. The answer is, because of the help I got. I started to go to therapy (both group and individual) and because of that I started to see where I was wrong. Because of that, I am healthier. Its nice, being free from all of those worries of death and pain and start focusing on things that can hurt as well. Beforehand all I would do is chalk all my feelings to what amounts to depression (since I was never diagnosed with it, I dont want to say that I had it.) Now I can see where my problems actually are.

So what was my problem? This is something that I have known since I started debating on PF and easily beforehand. Its been with me since I can remember as a kid. I am transgender. I am a girl born in a guys body. Some of my earliest memories are of me trying to get into my moms jewelry box. I never wanted this, I would have loved to have been born in the right body. But I know that its not how it works, no matter how much I wished that it were so. Every single night I would beg to God, or wish on the stars, or anything to put me in the right body. Now that I think about it, there was another reason I debated on PF. It was because I wanted to prove to myself that I was a guy. Debating is more of a male (in the Gender sense). Inside I wanted to prove to myself that I was actually a guy and the feelings that I had were wrong. Of course, that didnt work. All I did for years was tell myself that I was a failure and worthless, all because I couldnt tell myself that I am actually a girl.

Thanks to the support Ive gotten from friends and therapy Im better shape to actually start transitioning. But I cant forget the family thats raised me. PF is my home, and for how central it was to hurting myself, it was also my refugee. It was where I went when I needed someone to talk to. It was where I took my anger out on and then was reminded that they were people too. And PF was the place where I developed so many of my ideas about the world. For all the knowledge Ive gained in college, PF was still the place that taught me so much of the world. I can never forget that. So I would like to make a public thank you to everyone in PF.

For those that have debated by my side for years, thank you. You showed me that strangers can support each other if theres a common goal. For those that were indifferent or had constructive criticism and arguments, thank you. Its because of you that I sharpened my skills. Because of that I learned more about the world and how it works. And I have to wish thank you to the bigots out there. Those that hate Transgenders. I dont mean the people who have ideological reasons for disagreeing with what transgenders want as a community. They are part of the constructive criticism and arguments group. They taught me that not all bigots are the same, and that most people who have an issue with the LGBT community simply understand the world differently. I have no quarrel with them. Its because of them that I realized how different bigotry is. People who we would call bigots simply see the world differently and thats alright. No, I mean the actual bigots. Those who would hate with no reason other than to hate.
Thank you. Thank you for showing me what hatred looks like. You scared me at first, with your arguments about how Transgenders need to go to therapy and get the help they need. I did. Im healthier, happier today then I have been in a long time. This summer was the happiest I have been in years. No worrying about hiding who I am, no obsessing over every detail to make sure that the world sees me as a guy. I am a woman, no matter what my sex is. Thank you bigots for showing me that your arguments could not be sustained by reason and were only fueled by hatred. You showed me that it is possible to stand up to you and laugh as you try to explain things in your bigoted logic. Because of you, I realized that I am strong enough to stand up for myself I face discrimination when I decide to transition. I owe you in part my life, and I hope you realize this but you made me a better person.

Should you ever be a bigot? No. The nights I lost sleep because people like you exist are still fresh on my mind. The amount of pain you caused me, it cant be measured. The side of me that wanted to hurt myself listened to your arguments and it was only because I felt safe enough posting back that I didnt take them to heart. But it is because of that pain that I realized I am stronger. Maybe one day I will look back and think about how everything turned out for the best. But for now, listen to yourself and ask yourself, how much pain am I going to put into the world, because people do read what you write.

I want to say thank you again, to an amazing community that made me getting ready to transition possible. I havent started yet, but I am excited for where it goes. I know that its going to be a long process, but its going to a life changing one, one that will make me a better person. And I owe it thanks to the members of PF.
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http://www.politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=428231&p=1065450860

RPA1 · Oct 15, 2015

I would nominate this thread. It is so honest. I can't say I agree with everything but, I have enjoyed Kranes56 posts and have often crossed swords with him. Nevertheless, this post is (IMO) is outstanding.

Anders Hoveland · Oct 22, 2015

I would like to nominate this post:

undertheice said: ↑

i've lived in california all my life and i can honestly say that the state cannot be saved.

i moved to orange county in 1974 and i thought my young life was at an end. i was a die hard, "do as you like" liberal in those days and i was entering the heartland of the enemy. orange county was the great bastion of california conservatism, filled with mindless middle-class drones devoted to the status quo, and my path had always run contrary to such mundane mediocrity. la, to the north, was the home of privilege, keeping its underclass shackled and impoverished, and san diego was nothing more than an inconsequential playground. how i longed to return to the bay area, my erstwhile home, and its enlightened atmosphere.

my how things have changed. that enlightened atmosphere i left behind has soured. the underlying morality of beatniks and flower children disappeared as their power grew and turned to a stagnant environment of authoritarianism, a new sort of "do as we like or else" liberalism. la's underclass did rise up, but the aftermath isn't pretty. slowly but surely, by sheer numbers alone, they gained power and were corrupted by it. they used that power to confiscate what existing wealth they could, before the privileged secured themselves behind policed barricades and legions of attorneys or fled entirely, and invested that stolen wealth in more poverty. the city is now a failing battleground. wringing what they can from those that are left, its government attempts to replace the fled industry with handouts and grows its army of malcontent on the leftovers of the productive that have long since sought greener pastures. orange county itself has lost most of its suburban sheen. overrun by the influx of southern immigrants, both legal and illegal, and chopped up by mandates for "low cost housing" handed down from the ivory tower denizens of sacramento, the term "middle-class" has been redefined to include almost everyone. we now have bankers and grey-haired ex-prom queens living minutes away from gang-bangers and whores. orange county in fast becoming the ultimate liberal landscape, poverty living right next door to wealth, degrading the lifestyle of the millions who have spent their lives laboring to afford a bit of comfort and privilege.

so where have all the conservatives gone? oh, they're still here. oddly enough, it is san diego that is home to most of their power. sitting on the frontier with the third world terrorist nation of mexico, they understand that the conservative values others cast aside are all that stands between the rampant poverty and corruption to the south and the prosperity of a productive nation. there are still pockets of conservatism here in orange county as well, but their voices are shouted down by the multitudes of entitlement babies and newly minted welfare queens. they watch as the investments they made in their future are degraded by those who were not so far sighted and lament the fact that they too couldn't simply pack up and leave this "welfare state" behind. most of california's conservatism exists in the more rural areas of the state, the breadbasket that keeps most of the west coast's larder filled. while industry flees the taxation of greedy political animals and the entitlement society that drives them, agriculture must remain where the land is. fighting against environmentalists that seek to dry up their farms, the welfare state proponents that empty their pool of domestic labor and the open borders crowd that demands exorbitant wages for mindless work, these are the people that most recognize the destructive nature of the modern liberal mindset.

none of this would really matter if it was an isolated incident. it could all be excused as folly if this destructive trend hadn't been foreshadowed by so many attempts at the exact same thing. over and over again we have seen this economic fascism, the micromanagement of the private sector by government, play out and it has ended in disaster every time. history gives us countless examples of such "dictatorships of the proletariat" self-destructing, but we still have all of these idiots telling us that this time it will be different.
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http://www.politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=429542&p=1065478079

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October....thread of the month nominations

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October....thread of the month nominations

Shangrila staff Past Donor

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Anders Hoveland Banned

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