- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Coaching Changes
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Freauxzen
| Favorite team: | Washington State  |
| Location: | Washington |
| Biography: | LSU Alumni (2004) UWM (2007), Born and raised in LA. Moved from a cushy public sector job in Education to a crazy, cutting-edge, job in a tech/education. Currently a Software Executive. |
| Interests: | Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Sports (soccer player by nature), Movies, Arguing about random things, Useless Information |
| Occupation: | Software, Sales |
| Number of Posts: | 38456 |
| Registered on: | 2/14/2006 |
| Online Status: | Not Online |
Recent Posts
Message
re: Am I stupid?
Posted by Freauxzen on 1/2/26 at 4:27 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
It's not about intelligence as much as risk tolerance.
How much tolerance do you have to risk going to jail for several years (up to decades), losing everything, shaming yourself and your family, etc.?
Which is exactly why the whole political sham works. We all value safety and comfort more than right or wrong, which might be an ok gamble. Therefore, we allow ourselves to be taken advantage of, for the political class to run rufshod over law, decency and fairness.
It is what it is. We can all sit here and complain, but without actually taking a risk - it is what it is.
1
But we all will be joining together to file our taxes before April 15th. Many of us, I assume, aee actual tax payers.
Unfortunately, this is our lot in life. There is no change coming.
Unfortunately, this is our lot in life. There is no change coming.
re: Considering converting to Catholicism in this new year. Any converts here with advice?
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/31/25 at 9:43 pm to _Hurricane_
quote:
Catholics worship Mary
Look, I'll say it. I love my Protestant brothers and sisters. No matter what, they are still Christian. They are still close to me as a Catholic and close to the truth.
But the fact that this is still a belief and an "argument" to this day makes it really difficult to take anything they say seriously.
We have explained this thing ad nauseum, and they still repeat it. Its ridiculous.
quote:
I once thought like an isolationist but then traveled and realized most humans are simply looking for a better life for themselves and their children.
The problem with this is "a better life" means something different to different people. For some cultures that means not working. Some it means having 20 children, for some it means no children, for some it means dependence. And and on and on.
We have, or had, our own view here.
You know what those countries have now? A pretty easy guide to do it, by just copying the American model, rather than sending their people here. How about they just follow the plan? Revolt if they need to? Put the right people into power. Focus on a high trust society, with shared values?
Honestly, once the map was laid, it's pretty easy to follow. If you want to.
But they don't want to. Hence why they don't.
quote:
has an obligation to serve as the bastion of the ideas we were founded on and provide opportunity for anyone willing to work for it.
This is an ideal, yes, but not a human reality. Because people are human.
re: Do Democrats care more about non US citizens than actual US citizens?
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/31/25 at 12:55 pm to RollTide4547
quote:
Democrats care about political power. Nothing else.
This is correct.
Power comes from an extremely dependent class of people who will do anything, and take any amount of money, to vote for them. Immigrants, welfare recipients, students and, classically, unions.
quote:
The ferment is about to explode
It's not going to explode - but do we become Brazil, do all of us start finding shortcuts because there is no better way to remain "decent" and not get taken advantage of?
Sadly, 90% of politicians and political ideology will remain. The general population will by distracted with its sports and Netflix, everyone will pay taxes dutifully, the corruption will continue, we might get a hearing, and they will find new ways to cheat once a few holes are closed up. Rinse. Repeat.
We are a country of comfort at ALL costs. And that often means just putting up with this stuff.
quote:
no comprehension of the enormity of the universe.
There's a reason for this.
re: Bigos (Polish Hunter Stew)
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/30/25 at 1:50 pm to SpotCheckBilly
One of my favorite winter dishes.
quote:
Income tax sucks. Once a man reaches the point at which he is valuable in his industry, he should start a company that he can sell one day and pay capital gains. And in the mean time he can take advantage of R&D tax credits or whatever the applicable scam is for his industry. For my career, I probably paid a blended tax rate - state and federal - of 28%.
Not really available to me, but I'm sure there is a loophole I missed somewhere. With the amount I had to work to do it - I never really had the time to find it.
It was mainly tech startups - so lots of stock, PE, VC acquisitions and options trading hands.
How could you not?
It really gets me - I've been in software sales. Have done incredibly well for myself for the last 17 years. But I had a phenomenal stretch for half a decade where I Made a lot. First world problem, I know.
But in those years my taxes were just straight out INSANE for any normal person. I started out my career making 35k/year in 2005. I am not long time wealthy. I didn't come from money. I worked hard. I got all the way to the 99.95% of earners or whatever....
And was taxed into oblivion, and continued to be next as shares moved around, companies sold, etc. So while I did well, and have plenty to work with, if you look at my actual wealth to what was stolen from me for having a few good years - it will never not be absolutely infuriating. The whole system is corrupt, and useless. It's probably the main reason I have really jaded view of most people.
I'm in a spot where I really won't have to worry, but I could be in such a better position if this stuff was different. If my entire wealth was taken into account, instead of just my annual earnings - at least for a time until I was actually wealthy. If taxes weren't used for absolutely awful purposes 90% of the time, etc.
I made as much money for myself as I did for the government. That's nuts.
It really gets me - I've been in software sales. Have done incredibly well for myself for the last 17 years. But I had a phenomenal stretch for half a decade where I Made a lot. First world problem, I know.
But in those years my taxes were just straight out INSANE for any normal person. I started out my career making 35k/year in 2005. I am not long time wealthy. I didn't come from money. I worked hard. I got all the way to the 99.95% of earners or whatever....
And was taxed into oblivion, and continued to be next as shares moved around, companies sold, etc. So while I did well, and have plenty to work with, if you look at my actual wealth to what was stolen from me for having a few good years - it will never not be absolutely infuriating. The whole system is corrupt, and useless. It's probably the main reason I have really jaded view of most people.
I'm in a spot where I really won't have to worry, but I could be in such a better position if this stuff was different. If my entire wealth was taken into account, instead of just my annual earnings - at least for a time until I was actually wealthy. If taxes weren't used for absolutely awful purposes 90% of the time, etc.
I made as much money for myself as I did for the government. That's nuts.
re: You knew it was coming- MSNBC broadcasting that Mn fraud is made up by Trump
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/29/25 at 1:02 pm to Great Plains Drifter
quote:
We are being governed by an entire gigantic system that has morphed and grown into an unaccountable and extremely crooked blob that primarily functions nowadays to serve, enrich and ultimately, protect itself. At all costs. The corporate media serves to promote it and to be a guard dog for it.
Whatever it is now, it has little to do with mom, baseball or apple pie. It has little to do really, with anything that’s of great importance to your average, everyday American citizen.
Our main purpose is to dutifully feed it through our taxes and to not ever get “too” overly nosy and uppity in questioning what it does. To do so will make one a fascist and a “threat to democracy”.
We are supposed to be content to be entertained with our sports, movies, music and reality TV shows.
Yes
quote:
There are gay people in real life., you know.
quote:
Hate to break it to you but there’s no agenda, dude. Movies are just movies. Gay people exist in the world so they will exist in movies as well.
Absolutely asinine responses.
You know every time I put on an old film, and there's like a random priest, or the characters go to a church, or there's some appeal to Christianity.
Someone mentions God positively, or as a being who they believe in, etc. etc. It's usually presented at just "part of the environment," part of thew fabric of being human.
Even if more lewd films or action films. Or someone even just MENTIONS going to mass. It's frequent it's all over the place. Even when someone doesn't feel like a "Christian" character, they might go to a church or talk to a priest. It's just.... there.
But it's always incredibly strange how you watch a modern Hollywood films, and there are no Christians. No one mentions God. Priests are absent unless it's explicitly a wedding movie. There are no Churches, or it's always non-denominational, etc. You'd think Christians and belief in God were non-existent.
If this was a question of "they exist, they are normal, they should be represented," then every single show, much like they do with homosexuality, should always have at least ONE practicing Christian who takes God and the faith seriously. And they should paint Christians in a positive light who contribute and who's belief in God is real and meaningful.
But does that happen? No. Because - guess what - it's not about "representation," never was.. (That and the poster earlier was right - why pay for Netflix to openly mock and minimize you, not sure.)
Now, I fully admit this shouldn't be a "Christians" vs. Homosexuality thing - but how in the heck does it get framed that way? It's fairly obvious, why and how.
quote:
but I hear that term a lot. What exactly is the Hollywood Gay Agenda?
Stop being gay, you know exactly what he means.
re: Happy Anniversary to those of us who survived the Winter of Severe Illness and Death
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/24/25 at 11:14 am to SquatchDawg
quote:
but don’t pretend it was all bullshite.
Wrong. Know that it WAS all bullshite.
That's the issue. That's why we'll never know how "Real," the whole situation was. Looking back, it looks like a lot of bullshite. That doesn't mean that COVID wasn't real. Whatever kind of virus that was - yes it was real. But was it THAT serious for everyone? What did or did not happen with the ventilators/remisvidir? Who actually died from COVID? What was the actual impact? Why did Flu numbers shift so dramatically? What was in the vaccine?
There are so many questions without answers, answers that we will never REALLY know, we can't actually define ANYTHING in that time. You have to question most of the deaths "from Covid." You have to question most of the concerns around the vaccine. So talking about a bunch of people "who died from Covid," is false. They died from a poorly mis handled and mis communicated situation. Undetermined. Covid? Maybe. Maybe not. But we can't actually even define any of that.
That's not your fault, or my fault. That's the fault of the people in charge.
There are only a few directors in Kubrick's tier and Nolan isn't near any of them.
Kubrick, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Ford. Maybe Lean, Wilder.
Thats about it.
Kubrick, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Ford. Maybe Lean, Wilder.
Thats about it.
re: This year's top portal QB's set to ask for $4-5 million
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/23/25 at 2:11 pm to ReauxlTide222
quote:
Is that the one where the video game used the athletes to make billions and didn’t give them much of anything in return?
You mean LSU QB #6 on EA NCAA roster who looked like a cross between Shrek and Cro Magnon man, and then Clemson OT #71 who also looked like a cross between Shrek and Cro-Magnon man. And also KSU RB #11 who also looked like that, but was black?
You mean those characters?
The thing was - that game was more about just being to be the coach of LSU and winning the SEC. It had little to do with the players, it was about the team.
quote:
Does this cheapen Steve's happy ending in Endgame?
I mean, comics
re: Searching for possibly obscure Movie Recommendations
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/21/25 at 11:16 pm to Chesticles
Ravenous
In China They Eat Dogs
The Spanish Prisoner
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A History of Violence
Coherence
Bone Tomahawk
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
In China They Eat Dogs
The Spanish Prisoner
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A History of Violence
Coherence
Bone Tomahawk
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
I know it's the goal, but they really need to stop the whole normalization project. This is what further divides.
quote:
If someone doesn’t want to have kids why is that a problem
If it were like a smattering of people here and there sure, but this article the doinks or dinks whatever they call themselves, etc. it's become a whole culture of not having kids. That's different.
quote:
society has enough unwanted kids.
Not sure not having kids is the best solution to this problem.
re: Christian Existentialism?
Posted by Freauxzen on 12/18/25 at 12:34 am to bayoubengals88
quote:
Or, I could just read the Summa with Grok’s help, asking it was Kreeft says about any given topic!
As someone who works in AI, don't do that.
:lol:
Popular
34
