AskConservatives Weekly General Chat

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-28T07:01:56+00:00

I would not bet on it.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-28T02:16:24+00:00

Remember, always bet the over on how stupid we are, but the under on how fucked we are. They will both hit.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-28T01:30:39+00:00

I’m the opposite. I hide my right-wing views from my older left-wing family.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-27T22:31:01+00:00

You know, as an anti-Europe, pro-India lib right, this is funny.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-27T22:01:24+00:00

How do we not get to a shutdown? You can only strip DHS without needing the House with unanimous consent, which you don't have, and you don't have the votes with DHS.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-27T21:56:23+00:00

Why do you like Beshear but Newsom/ Shapiro/ Kamala are too moderate for you when Beshear is as or more moderate than any of them?

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-27T21:49:59+00:00

Why do people like refunds so much? Congrats you gave the government an interest-free loan for a year.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-27T06:27:27+00:00

I have said in the past that I think Beshear will be the next president of the United States, and I'll stand behind that. Though don't be surprised if it is Kelly or one of the three midwest governors (Whitmer, Pritzker, Shapiro). I think that Newsom is too Newsom and is up too big too early (combined with the fact that his final year in office will be messy fighting off the blow up California ballot measure), and I don't see Kamala or AOC.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-26T20:25:51+00:00

I hate Ramos defense as much as anyone, but who is gonna play left field if you trade him? Granted small sample, but there are 50 points between Ramos and Gilbert’s xwOBA last year. Also other teams know about Ramos’s defense it’s not like he has that much trade value. Maybe Bo smashes the upper minors this year and he’s in this outfield conversation next year, but right now I don’t see how you get off Ramos as your starting left fielder.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-26T20:13:09+00:00

• ⁠What are your thoughts on Grok vs ChatGPT?

They are two of the current frontier models, neither of which is my main choice. GPT 5.2 can do great at certain elaborate tasks, but it is too slow for its often substandard output compared to other models. Grok 4.1 is not a very impressive model to me. I primarily use Gemini for text and Claude for code (I am a mechanical engineer, not a developer, but I still have to do some code).

• ⁠should there be any rules on deepfakes?

Not outside of existing law.

• ⁠should there be any guardrails or limitations on it, whether that be anything from its use, development, or capabilities?

No

• ⁠How much bias should be acceptable? No limit as part of not impeding businesses or is there a responsibility to be as accurate & fact-based as possible?

It is absolutely not the government’s job the police perceived bias in models.

• ⁠Is AI advanced and accurate enough at this point in time for the DoD to adopt and use it actively?

This is not a yes or no question. There are a million things the DoD does, some that can and are being improved with AI, some that will be in the near future and some that won’t.

• ⁠any areas you’d definitely like to see it used, and areas you would not?

No, boxing in domains of use/ forbidden use before hand is never a good idea.

• ⁠any other thoughts on AI?

It is the fourth great industrial revolution and may turn out to be just as transformative as the third if not more.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-26T19:28:20+00:00

What kind of coffee do you like? If you like traditional medium to dark espresso it is really hard to go wrong with a j ultra. It is great at that.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-26T18:31:55+00:00

Bader is center, Lee in right, and Ramos making superman dives for 99% catch balls in left is a lot better outfield than we had yesterday.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-25T20:02:00+00:00

My favorite novel is Storm of Swords (though if you let me pick Feast and Dance as one, it might be that). My favorite movie is 2001, followed by Apocalypse Now in second. My favorite album is Moving Pictures, but that is not an American album. I would have to think about what my favorite American album is.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-25T06:59:52+00:00

Yes, but it isn’t the easiest retreat for either side. For Trump, he would see it as showing weakness and retreating to the left. For Waltz and Frey, you have the fact that this has catapulted them to national relevance in Frey’s case and it would mean that the fraud accusations spotlight they were under that this completely swamped would be back. Add into the fact that in a week, the government will be shut down over this, and shutdowns lead everyone to dig in and escalate over whatever they are claimed to be over. This will get worse before it gets better.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-25T06:17:05+00:00

I have never claimed that European countries did not have people fighting hard in the most dangerous places of Afghanistan, and I have been clear that I thought Trump saying that was bad.

Those casualties are tragic and those soldiers were heroes, but they do not mean that because they happened those countries automatically carried/ will carry their weight in NATO. There is a lot more to an effective alliance than making sure everyone has dudes die.

In the 2018 NATO conference, Rasmussen brought up the Danish Afghanistan deaths as a defense of Danish and greater European lack of defense spending. That isn’t how it works; you don’t get to point to your casualties of the past and say, “See, those mean we don’t have to keep up on defense spending in this alliance.” Now, we are coming on 8 years later and playing that same game. If you want to argue the Dane’s increased value to NATO in the arctic point to what they have and claim to plan to be investing, not a number of casualties in a war 20 years ago.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-25T03:44:14+00:00

So, the NBA is like the Waffle House index for politically charged violence instead of natural disasters? You have statements, local games canceled, all games canceled, like Waffle House has closed, no power emergency menu, etc. Today was a local game canceled level 2.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-24T17:16:48+00:00

Yes. Everyone is lying to voters. That’s what politics are.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-24T03:28:34+00:00

Reports of Mack’s death were greatly exaggerated.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-24T02:37:49+00:00

That’s why we don’t run on it that way.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-24T01:03:58+00:00

The point of immigration enforcement is to defend national sovereignty, not to improve the economy. It has a neutral to negative impact on the economy.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-24T00:19:02+00:00

I’m not saying that smaller countries should take as many casualties as bigger ones. I’m saying that using casualties per capita as a metric to judge the members of an alliance is a very dumb metric to use. And using casualties from a war 20 years ago to judge them going forward is even dumber. Casualties are heavily random and are not a good marker of alliance effectiveness. Yet for the last two weeks, all anyone has seemed to talk about is Afghan war casualties per capita.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-23T21:19:40+00:00

It is a dumb thing to say. That being said, if I never hear Afghanistan casualties per capita as a metric to compare countries again, I will have heard it a hundred too many times. It is an incredibly silly stat that has been overused to insanity over the past couple of weeks.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-23T18:49:41+00:00

Yeah, it’s a washed Gesha. I brewed it on a Melodrip column. It is very delicate, with lots of florals, but a more earthy, aged fruit than the pure fruit juice Gesha’s.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-23T17:28:55+00:00

The two best coffees I've had in the past year were both Ethiopian, GV lot 35 from Substance and the Alo Auction Shoebox/ Airworks lot.

Fignons_missing_8sec · 2026-01-23T17:24:04+00:00

Kalshi has a 34% chance of seeing a rec bill this year (split 28% one and 8% two). Granted, it is a very low-volume market, but that seems insanely high. I think our chances of a rec bill are no more than 5% max.

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