OlDawg

I like to think about political discourse like being a member of a church. If you only go to Christmas, Easter, and/or the occasional Sunday service, the church seems very typical of the community. I’d say that’s akin to the typical voter experience who only votes every 4 years. Then, there’s the church member who is also a member of the steering and business committee of the church. This member sees the ugly underbelly of the church as a business. This can disillusion the member if they don’t remember the real reason they attend anyway. I’d say this is akin to the voter who is more informed, votes even in local elections, and participates in political discussions. Both members are valuable to the congregation. One is much easier to deal with, and causes no qualms for the most part. But, the church couldn’t function without the more involved member. There’s a need for a place to discuss politics, as unsettling as it may be sometimes. Many of the topics, I wouldn’t know anything about if it weren’t for this forum. This forum actually makes me investigate things. I become more informed, and whether I agree or not is irrelevant. That—to me—is a very big positive.

AI still has too many issues right now. People who use it without back-checking are foolish. As an example, type in the below two questions EXACTLY as typed: How many illegal aliens in Texas 2025? How many undocumented immigrants in Texas 2025? We know the questions are asking about the exact same subset of the population. But, the AI answers—and sources—you receive will be quite different. AI isn’t smart enough to figure that out. It’s merely going on key words. Not really intelligence in my book. A big misnomer.

The thing that bothers me more than anything else lately, is the amount of posts obviously strictly using AI. I’ve researched quite a few of them, and they are coming from obviously biased source material. Makes sense since most media has a more liberal slant. I wish people wouldn’t just use AI generated answers, and think for themselves. AI seems to already be taking critical thinking out of the equation for many people.

I think most debates on this particular political forum are fairly robust. It’s a lot better than most places. Personally, I do a lot of data checking before I get too deep into discussion. Unless it’s something with which I have personal experience. Even then, if someone asks, I’ll try to provide data to support.

Only if someone checked what she posted. I’m not sure the issue is a big surprise to people. The numbers may be off. But, the occurrences of misuse, overuse, and outright fraud are pretty well known. Her statement of “if all benefits were cut off, they would leave” is pure conjecture. Nothing wrong with that as her opinion. But, it is pure conjecture.

I was waiting to see how long it took for those who said they didn’t trust a single source—or the government—for data/information, to realize the X post was partially created using government data.

Looked up. She’s just a MAGA social media influencer. I wouldn’t trust her data unless she shows where it came from.

It's a real issue, and ties back into the birthright citizenship question before SCOTUS. Not just who people think either. There are thousands of Chinese nationals who are paying surrogate American mothers to have their children for access to benefits. [Hidden Content] Friedman succinctly stated--paraphrased--you can't have open borders and a welfare state. That's one of the reasons why I (as a conservative libertarian, for lack of a better definition) have always been against the Libertarian Party position of open borders unless we do away with the welfare state first. Which will never happen...

I'm not going to go line-by-line through census data right now. But, SIPP (Census Bureau) numbers do show a majority of households receiving SNAP and/or WIC benefits are headed up by illegal immigrant 'heads of households' applying for their children. Of all immigrant-headed households (naturalized citizens and non-citizens) with young children, 43 percent are dependent on at least one of these programs. [Hidden Content]

The effect on food and welfare support to the poor in the government shutdown has revealed that the noncitizen and illegal immigrant community has been benefiting from the taxpayer-funded programs more than American citizens — by far. [Hidden Content]

I think we should go back and look at 1836. There’s no way Van Buren won. Let’s rehash it, and have a do-over.

Hoping everyone enjoys the reason for the season, and is able to spend a joyous time with those they love! Merry Christmas from the DawgHouse

The biggest lie of all? Who was running the last Administration? All the others kind of pale in comparison.

Something really interesting about your link that is in the background. As of May 2024, the stock market was 39,470.00. It stands--as of this time the morning of Dec 22, 2025--at 48,248.59. Anyone who invests in a company 401k, 503b, or similar is experiencing good growth in their gross wealth. That's around 22% in about a year and a half.

Wrong year to boot! That'll confuse 'em. lol