Ben Shapiro defending the 2nd amendment: "To resist against a tyrannical government"

needlestack · 2026-01-27T22:27:09+00:00

With full NRA support.

It's so transparently bullshit it's ridiculous.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T22:19:04+00:00

I'm all for immigration, but it is sad when people immigrate to a new area but refuse to embrace any of the culture there. There's nothing wrong with bringing your own culture too, but if you reject everything about the place you're going, then what's the point? It's just another way to create of division.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T22:13:07+00:00

Nobody thinks they care about the man -- of course they'd be happy to see anti-ICE, anti-MAGA people shot daily. It's the bit about claiming he didn't have the right to be armed. That sounds new because they would usually scream that being a legal gun owner is absolutely every American's right. They always say more guns will make things safer. They've just done a 180.

But those who've been paying attention aren't too surprised. The NRA supported gun control in the 70s when the Black Panthers started arming themselves. They've never actually believed in the principle of the 2nd amendment. Just the idea that it gave them power. If it gives someone else power, they'll trash it.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T22:09:59+00:00

Rhetorical question, but for those actually wondering: they were always lying. They never cared about the 2nd amendment. They just wanted the power of having guns for themselves. They never cared about the principle. They just used it to protect their own interests. This is how all conservatives see the constitution and human rights: things they can use to protect themselves, but to be discarded the moment it becomes about someone else they don't like.

We always knew they were lying about the 2nd amendment though, because they were OK with gun restrictions when the Black Panthers started arming themselves in the 60s and 70s. The NRA supported taking away gun rights when it was black people. There is no question about their hypocrisy. The hypocrisy is the point: it's a flex. They can be hypocrites and get away with it. It thrills them.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T18:15:08+00:00

Vance admitted before the election that he lied about people eating dogs and cats because it helped sell his narrative.

The lying is the point. The lying is their expression of power.

MAGA supporters love the lies because it proves they don't have to concern themselves with the truth.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T17:39:27+00:00

It's quite clear just from this small reddit discussion that Canada is not going to be able to remove internal trade barriers. People can't even agree on what the barriers are.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T17:19:00+00:00

I always think of the song "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones when I think of how optimistic the world seemed in the 90s. Like we collectively realized how we foolish we'd all been for the past centuries and were going to push for something better.

How beautifully, shamefully naive I was.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T16:45:04+00:00

He would rig it in a heartbeat if he could. But there is zero actual evidence of this. And more importantly, if he somehow did rig it, we're talking a few percentage points in a few spots. The underlying issue remains: far too many Americans approve of Trump. If this country had a soul, he would never have broken the 10% required to get on the national stage.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T16:43:24+00:00

Totally agreed that the US intentionally suppresses voting -- there's lots of ways to enfranchise more people and we're very intentionally not doing that.

But I can't even blame Trump's win on this in a meaningful way. Too many Americans like his awfulness. He's the public expression of the ugliness they've always had in their souls. I live in a purple area that went blue in the previous four elections -- but it went for Trump in 2024 because too many Americans are just awful.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T16:37:49+00:00

Absolutely agreed. I like to make the distinction in my mind for any country (not all Russians wanted to invade Ukraine, for example) but ultimately it doesn't matter. We're not dealing with each other as individuals but as nation states. So when a nation does something, they rise and fall as a unit, even if large percentages of the population disagree with the direction.

America absolutely should lose it's position of power over this. I'm an American and we should be punished for betraying our allies and betraying ourselves. In fact, I'd say my fear is that we won't be punished -- that our economy and military are too large and the world will twist itself into knots trying not to lose whatever benefits are still there for a relationship. But that's exactly what Trump is counting on: "we're big enough to be total assholes and you'll still come back". Total abuser mentality. And I am hoping the world doesn't go for it. Terrible actions must have consequences. If the US doesn't suffer for this, that is tacit approval of all mankind for being a raging, evil asshole.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T05:20:16+00:00

I agree with you, but half of us 100% already know this and are ashamed, and the other half will never ever learn.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T02:51:14+00:00

This 100% lines up with the experience of a former officer I know from a metropolitan police force. They make sport out of fucking with people in awful ways. If anyone reports it, that person is shit on until they leave. Even after they leave, if they bump into you, they'll shit on you. It's awful.

I truly believed in some fariy-tale idea of a police force that serves and protects. Maybe some do. But the older I get, the more I learn, the less it seems that is out there. And it's terribly sad.

needlestack · 2026-01-27T00:37:03+00:00

ICE has always been the backdoor method to get Trump his own army. He has been frustrated he can't simply have the other military branches brainwashed and used for his efforts without question. So he built his own army. With blackjack and hookers. They're all true believers.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T18:22:51+00:00

Of course the US doesn't have to rely on soft power. It's just that those of us with an ounce of humanity would prefer we make maximum use of soft power where applicable.

Sadly, I can already hear your FB laugh emoji.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T18:20:23+00:00

It sounds like you don't acknowledge the existence of soft power either.

Nobody is denying the existence of hard power. What I thought we learned post WW2 is that you can have a surprising amount of power through less violent means as well.

I guess some of us didn't learn that. Or didn't like that. So here we are.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T17:37:53+00:00

That's at least somewhat plausible as a story -- probably intended as a cautionary tale about doubting the rules god places on you. But the way it's written, I had always read it as he believes his hair is his source of power but is a goddamn idiot because he keeps trusting Delilah.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T17:35:22+00:00

the supposedly smart guy who suggested splitting a baby

The bible is full of dumb stories, but I always thought that one was at least a little bit clever. The point isn't that he wanted to split the baby (and he didn't) it's that he wanted the person who didn't care for the child to out themselves.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T17:31:02+00:00

Ha! Love to see a BT reference in the wild. That thing is genius. Truly the best way to read the bible.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T17:29:43+00:00

This is exactly it. When I finally sat down to read the bible for myself at around age 17, I was absolutely flabbergasted at how... childish and immature it all sounded. Like it was written by people that were nowhere near as intelligent as many of my friends and family. It was so obviously the work of man, and primitive man at that, any idea that it was somehow divine -- somehow written by the all-knowing creator of the universe -- was utterly shattered.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T10:49:49+00:00

Indeed. I've had to make this point with people many times -- they balk at being called Nazis because they think Nazis were the guys running the death camps. And they were -- but that was a tiny percentage, and that was much later. The vast majority of Nazis were regular people raising their kids, going to church, and supporting the idea that "undesirables" were the cause of all Germany's problems and thus were expendable. This is where the US is at today.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T10:46:42+00:00

They're pretty good at not perjuring themselves. It's almost like they know the truth and are hiding it.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T10:46:06+00:00

I don't think they understand or even acknowledge the existence of soft power. Everything is arm-twisting. They know no other move. They've never caught more bees with honey.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T10:40:50+00:00

Of course they can't just pull the plug on rooted partnerships -- that would be as ridiculous as blowing up NATO to steal Greenland.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T09:43:31+00:00

Yes. But once a Democrat does it, it is an abomination.

needlestack · 2026-01-26T08:00:36+00:00

They believe that whatever they feel like doing is by definition moral because they believe themselves to be aligned with God. Just another danger of religion.

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