In The News Today...

Quote: SOOPOO

. Isn’t there only one doofus Republican Senator going to challenge the electors? It truly is a low point for those many Repub congressmen who will vote not to certify.

I was shocked to learn that there were similar votes by Democrats in 2000, 2004, and 2016. I don’t recall any backlash against those naysayers!

If you want a good analogy, this charade will be similar to the impeachment hearings. A bunch of politicians who like to hear themselves speak with a zero percent chance of their ‘goal’ being accomplished.

It seems to be up to nearly a dozen doofus Republican Senators now. I think the new leader of the pack is Ted Cruz. Aside from losing to Donald Trump, the only thing he's notable for is always looking constipated, so it's kind of understandable that he'd want to make a splash.***

Also, Texas. A state who seems to be really big on states' rights except for when they aren't.

I'd mentioned 2004 in another post, but perhaps not in this thread. Barbara Boxer from California and a Representative from Ohio whose name I don't immediately recall. Just pointing out the hypocrisy on that one with the only real differences being that they were only challenging the results of one state and the fact that John Kerry had conceded well before that happened.

***To be fair, he looks a little less like he has a perpetual bowel blockage with his beard.

Dear Cancel Culture,

Please stop. At least pull it back a bit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/26/us/mimi-groves-jimmy-galligan-racial-slurs.html

Why do you put me in a position where I have to agree with Ben Shapiro about something?:

https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1346104633262039041

I don't like Ben Shapiro. He doesn't have a red blood cell in his body that's not composed of unadulterated hate. Racist white male chauvinists who self-identify as Christians probably listen to his program while they mas****ate, god knows a not insubstantial number of all parties involved are probably in the closet anyway.

And, you're making me agree with him. Ugh. I need to wash my hands.

Respectfully,
Mission146

Quote: Mission146

...
I don't like Ben Shapiro. He doesn't have a red blood cell in his body that's not composed of unadulterated hate. Racist white male chauvinists who self-identify as Christians probably listen to his program while they mas****ate, god knows a not insubstantial number of all parties involved are probably in the closet anyway.

And, you're making me agree with him. Ugh. I need to wash my hands.

Respectfully,
Mission146

You haven't missed that yarmulke he always wears on his head, I hope

He speaks so fast, I literally set the youtube speed at 0.75

btw I listen to the Wizard at 1.25 or even 1.5 speed, then go back at normal if I am especially interested. Scott Adams too

Quote: odiousgambit

You haven't missed that yarmulke he always wears on his head, I hope

He speaks so fast, I literally set the youtube speed at 0.75

btw I listen to the Wizard at 1.25 or even 1.5 speed, then go back at normal if I am especially interested. Scott Adams too

I can't do Ben Shapiro videos. I'm a somewhat cold person and even I see there's nothing even recognizably human in his eyes.

Shapiro is a little too much of a 'college debate team' trained dude for me to really get into

every once in a while he has something good, I liked this take of his on some movies

Is Ben Shapiro the one who inadvertently admitted he never makes his wife wet?

Quote: ams288

Is Ben Shapiro the one who inadvertently admitted he never makes his wife wet?

Oh God, mental image, mental image...please make it stop!

Quote: Mission146

Dear Cancel Culture,

Please stop. At least pull it back a bit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/26/us/mimi-groves-jimmy-galligan-racial-slurs.html

Why do you put me in a position where I have to agree with Ben Shapiro about something?:

https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1346104633262039041

I don't like Ben Shapiro. He doesn't have a red blood cell in his body that's not composed of unadulterated hate. Racist white male chauvinists who self-identify as Christians probably listen to his program while they mas****ate, god knows a not insubstantial number of all parties involved are probably in the closet anyway.

And, you're making me agree with him. Ugh. I need to wash my hands.

Respectfully,
Mission146

Ben Shapiro is such a disappointment.

If you listen to his interviews on Joe Rohan’s podcast, he seems like a really nice guy. He comes off as smart and having pretty reasonable conservative opinions.

But on Twitter and his own podcast he is a completely different person. It’s disappointing because he could be a really well rounded conservative voice, but he just puts on this stupid inflammatory act designed to make money, much like Alex Jones or Crowder.

Quote: odiousgambit

Shapiro is a little too much of a 'college debate team' trained dude for me to really get into

every once in a while he has something good, I liked this take of his on some movies

Just for you, I'll watch this:

0:45: "...so, they understand all of the politics of the films they are being asked to cover."

---Yeah, the politics of a lot of these aren't exactly subtle. I'd say Christian Conservatives are the only ones likely enough to not have sufficient functioning brain cells to pick up on them.

1:00-3:15 (Captain Marvel)

---Okay, so Shapiro alleges that the critics are pleased with the political messaging in the movie and points out that Captain Marvel (perhaps counter-intuitively to the intended message) uses her superior physical strength to physically reprimand a guy for making a sexist comment.

---And, while I see his point, (kind of) it's a god**** movie. I don't think that scene is actually meant to suggest that women who are physically strong should be running around physically attacking guys for making sexist remarks any more than I think Grand Theft Auto encourages me to actually run around and shoot police officers. At best, it's a hollow point.

---At worst, the point FAILS completely because the scene could be argued to represent a scenario in which the tables have been turned. There is certainly no shortage of real-life scenarios in which a male has used the fact that he is physically imposing to intimidate a female. So...I don't see it as so much an advocation of violence as it is, "Look at how this would be if it was the other way."

---I agree about the merits of Captain Marvel as a hero. I don't like her because I think she is overpowered and it's difficult for me to believe that any possible enemy presents a credible threat. I did not see Captain Marvel, but I have seen Endgame. For the same reason, I don't like Superman, just so everyone knows gender has nothing to do with it.

---I mean, you know that in movies the protagonist(s) is almost always going to win. I like superheroes who are fighting an uphill battle and movies that convince me that they could lose. I get none of that from Captain Marvel. I can't imagine anyone defeating her.

3:27-5:30 (The Last Jedi)

Quote:

---"...They took Luke Skywalker and basically turned him into a b****."

---That's blasphemy. It makes total sense that Skywalker would have abandoned being active given everything that had transpired with the turn of Kylo Ren. Beyond that, there's a certain degree of continuity there when you look at Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi who basically set a precedent for self-isolation after a major failure.

---I agree that the political elements were blatant and EXTREMELY heavy-handed, no doubt about it. The main problem was they mostly went along with a little side quest that had very close to nothing to do with the main thread of the movie. It was really dumb, but probably the only huge negative for me.

---He mentions a litany of problems he has with the, "Holdo Maneuver," but the movie all but directly TELLS you it's something of a desperation attack that has a very low probability of success. Finally, the Holdo Maneuver is a kamikaze-style attack, so you'd never actually ask/order anyone to do it on the Jedi side of things.

---He brings up the fact that some people looked at the mere act of disliking the, "Rose," character as negative, but completely dismisses the fact that a litany of people were furious about the Rey character being the focal hero of this new trilogy and of Episode VII. And, let me tell those people this: Rey is a bad@$$. Awesome character. Totally rules. She's the embodiment of pure determination turned into a human form.

---He mentions that nobody had a problem with Princess Leia, going back to the original trilogy. Okay, let's look at this:

1.) Leia was a supporting character.

2.) The internet wasn't a thing, so who knows?

3.) Leia never really used anything except various blasters in the original trilogy.

4.) Leia was 80% disrobed in one of the movies...so I'd hardly expect male chauvinists to complain about her.

---Rey is just a bad@$$ who, I would hope, is very difficult to sexualize. "But...but...it's a female superhero who I find it really hard to fantasize about because her clothes aren't tight and she never shows anything." Poor babies.

---So, Shapiro, on net, nullifies the good points he makes by making stupid non-points. In my view, anyway.

5:30-8:11 Passengers

---I've never heard of this movie.

---Some rant about how nobody in Hollywood has ever heard of Jesus because, "Everyone is HEY-ZEUS which is a guy that does your gardening. He's thought of as a guy who does your gardening, because everyone in Hollywood is tacitly racist against Latinos..."***

***There are so many problems with this. Taken literally, assuming that they are guys named Jesus (Spanish) who do the gardening...can Shapiro explain to me how employing a Latino is a racist act? I would think this unnamed, 'Hollywood,' employing Latinos would be the opposite of a racist act. Would it not be more racist to NOT want someone to do your gardening because they are Latino?

---Also, Shapiro is the one saying it. Other than, "Hollywood," who is he accusing of saying these things. He needs to give an example of a Hollywood personage who has made a statement like this, otherwise he's a P*$$y, but we already know that Ben Shapiro is a complete P*$$y. That's why he's such a bully. I imagine he got picked on a lot in high school. I'd almost feel bad for the guy if he was an actual human being.

8:11-9:25 Midway

---I've never heard of this movie.

---"Woke this, woke that, blah blah...I give it a B but the critics didn't like it, blah blah.":

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_sniper

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enemy_at_the_gates

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flags_of_our_fathers

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hacksaw_ridge

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cold_mountain

---I picked five war movies that'd I'd heard of and in only one case (barely that) did critics like it more than audiences did. I can understand that. War Movie: Put uniforms on, shoot at each other. Oh boy. Highbrow entertainment there. Here's an idea: Read a history book. War movies are just unimpressive because they aren't impressive...all sound and fury signifying nothing where something of significance actually took place.

---If nothing else, I'm surprised there isn't a, Scary Movie-esque parody called, "War Movie."

---I liked Enemy at the Gates, though, full disclosure.

9:25-11:00 Ghostbusters

---Oh, ****, here we go. I actually predicted that this was coming before I even started watching the video.

---People were trashing this movie before it even came out. It probably isn't as good as the original Ghostbusters, it's pretty common for remakes to not be considered as good. I know that I saw this movie and have not seen the original BECAUSE I have no interest in seeing any movie in which Bill Murray has a starring (lead) role. Can't stand him. He's one-note and about as funny as a pair of clean socks. Groundhog Day could have actually been a good movie with...I don't know, literally anyone else AND Caddy Shack would have been better had he not been in it.

---So, I saw the movie and I thought it was reasonably funny. I guess all or some of the female protagonists are on Saturday Night Live, so it's not unusual for those people to make movies. Remakes are also not unusual. I guess if I see a commenter leading with, "We didn't need an all-female Ghostbusters," I would ALSO conclude that they're more concerned about the actresses being females than they are with the quality of the actual movie.

---And, two words: Billy Madison. Higher audience rating. Can anyone REALLY look me in the eyes and say that they think Billy Madison is a better movie than this? Jesus. Both movies have fundamentally stupid plots and offer a few chuckles in parts. That's all I've got.

CONCLUSION

I'm done. Kind of hopped and skipped through the rest, but I've not heard of any other movie he discusses.

Quote: gamerfreak

Ben Shapiro is such a disappointment.

If you listen to his interviews on Joe Rohan’s podcast, he seems like a really nice guy. He comes off as smart and having pretty reasonable conservative opinions.

But on Twitter and his own podcast he is a completely different person. It’s disappointing because he could be a really well rounded conservative voice, but he just puts on this stupid inflammatory act designed to make money, much like Alex Jones or Crowder.

Joe Rogan could make Jeffrey Dahmer come off like a nice guy, by comparison. I jest, but you get my point. Joe Rogan's another one who I will rarely find myself agreeing with and immediately want to wash my mouth out with bleach as soon as I say it. He's also a fake Libertarian. Anyone who supports Universal Health Care and UBI should really stop calling themselves Libertarians.

He's appealing to his listeners, that's all. I mean, it's pretty reprehensible in his case...but I heard an interview with someone who talked to Colin Cowherd (sports commentator) who basically said to that person, "Do you really believe I think he's better than LeBron? Of course not! But, I need to get people talking about what I said, so I said that."

So, Ben Shapiro likely doesn't even believe half of the stuff that comes out of his mouth, but in his case, that actually makes it even worse than if he did believe it.