No, America, not this..
https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/celebrity/oprah-winfrey-will-run...–-if-she-gets-a-sign-from-god/ar-BBJImbK?ocid=spartandhp
..not even if she can beat Drumpf.
And if she does run or says god told her to, what hope will you have? Two "absolutely fabulous" fake christian personalities contesting the right to present State of the Nation addresses and order nuclear strikes.
Does the US of A really need another celebrity president?
Aren't there any home grown professional politicians with the nads and charisma to take on the top job anymore?
Are both major parties moving to put the position of POTUS out to tender on the basis of ratings? Has popularity replaced policy?
Sure there is nothing in your constitution that says celebrities and actors, shock jocks or e-bloggers cant be president of America, but surely now is the time to take a stand for the seperation of church and state AND television.
I will cringe bigly if she actually says god told her to run, and it will be her first 'official campaign candidate lie'.
edited to hide a huge blunder
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In that case she will be waiting a fucking long time...
It's strange how Atheists are trusted less than rapists in the US and yet they trust people who claim to receive messages from invisible beings. Reason, science and skepticism are not even on the political radar but what kind of toppings you get on sandwiches and which magical made up religion you follow does.
@Occam The fact that if I was a rapist I'd be trusted more than if I was upfront offline about being an Atheist to everyone I met makes me weep for this species and wonder if we shouldn't just go extinct because the average human is too stupid for words.
"It's strange how Atheists are trusted less than rapists in the US and yet they trust people who claim to receive messages from invisible beings."
I don't think we have a full grasp of the mindset. Take a look at this for instance....
"Dr. Craig: The idea basically is that there are beliefs that we hold, which I think we are rational in holding, and indeed which we know to be true and which are warranted for us, which are not grounded in inference from other beliefs, from arguments, and evidence."
>>That's not the best bit though, he goes on...
" Examples of such properly basic beliefs, as they are called, would be belief in the reality of the past, belief in the external world around us, memory beliefs, beliefs that spring from testimony of others to us. These are not inferences that we make, these are properly basic beliefs that are grounded in certain experiences."
>>So for William Lane Craig his entire experience of reality is something we believe without inference from evidence. I am left wondering exactly what he thinks evidence is after he has excluded the entirety of reality?
"Alvin Plantinga has argued that belief in God is similarly a properly basic belief, which he would say is grounded in certain experiences of the world like feelings that I am a sinner before God, or all of this was designed by God, or in the case of Christian beliefs, that when we read in Scripture that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, "
It's hard to imagine a more subjective piece of vapid verbiage. He believes his beliefs are validated because he feels they are true, wow that's deep. These guys do this for a living as well, and people buy their expensive books where they espouse this garbage.
Is it any wonder people who buy and read that nonsense would vote for someone on the basis they claimed god had told them to run for office, or send their last penny to some tv evangelists telling them god had told him/her to ask for it?
Sheeple, no wonder they're called a flock, shepherds don't just tend their flock, they also fleece them.
I keep hearing that None's are on the rise...but things like this make me doubtful. Maybe I just expect too much too soon.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201310/why-o...
I'm at a loss for words.
"I'm at a loss for words."
That's ok just make some up, and pretend they're profound. Religious apologists make a handsome living from it.
Thankfully for me, I have never liked Oprah in any way, shape, or form. Now I have one more reason for liking her even less. It is disturbing to me, though, that she has so many "faithful followers" who worship her as if she was a god unto herself..... Umph! *gag*... Excuse me. Just threw up a little in my mouth.
I would like to see Oprah run and win. Unlike Trump, she has worked for everything she has. She knows how to organize. She listens to people. She will work for the good of the nation and its people instead of for herself. Her empathy is what has made her so wildly popular. And she READS! She is a very smart woman.
Oprah is better than tRump, for sure probably 1000 times better.
But billionaire media personalities for presidents? NO. As much as I love the equality inducing idea of a black female president, there are millions of other black women that I feel would make better candidates than a billionaire media personality. If Oprah was so great and generous, then why is she still a billionaire? Why does she feel the need to produce and star in a show named after herself? To create a whole new television network based on her stardom and media contacts?
It's a brand Logic, a platform. It isn't ego. Oprah is one of the most generous people in the world contributing to more than a hundred different charities many of which she is the sole contributor.
Hmm a little bit of math...
Oprah Net worth, 2.7 billion. Her income is roughly 300 million a year. She gives away roughly 40 million a year, and gets a nice fat tax write off for it. The top tax rate for all her big earning years is 35% that is 105 million a year she pays in taxes if she did no tax write offs and did not earn any money from investments, (taxed at 20 percent instead of 35.) You can deduct up to 50 percent of the taxes on your adjusted gross income from donations.
The 40 million dollars in donations is right in line with that final number. It is likely she gives away roughly as much as it gives her at least 50% tax write offs. Not that I blame her, I donate money too and claim it as a tax deduction, I much rather donate to a proper 401c charity of my choosing then to help finance one of the 10 ongoing wars the US is involved in.
And then she does big publicity stunts like giving away a brand-new Pontiac G-6 sedan, worth $28,500, to everyone in her studio audience: a total of 276 cars in all.) First she likely only paid ~20k per car, (Pontiac cuts special deals for large car orders that skips the dealership, as well as lots free positive media publicity for it's brand and pontiac will be especially motivated to give huge discount.) Say Oprah sucks at getting deals and pays 25k per car. 25k times 276 = 6.9 million. A drop in the bucket for someone that is already a billionaire and earns 300 million a year. The value of that publicity in creating a positive brand for her is obviously worth many, many times that.
I am not saying Oprah is this evil awful person, I would give my left nut to have Oprah be president right now over tRump. She is generous, but in terms of money given away compared to discretionary income as a percentage that is not a tax write off advantage, If I donated say 250 bucks to the Conservation Fund and did not claim it as a tax write off, I would by percentage of discretionary income, be more generous than Oprah.
I still think self ego plays a big role when you run and star in a show with your name on it, and end up being a multi billionaire. Just my opinion though.
About her taxes Logic, Her right offs are better than billionaires that just shelter their income, pay no taxes and the only donations they make are to corrupt conservative political pacts!
Everyone that is rich and famous have big egos but Oprah channels her ego into drive and she has a humility that respects and loves ALL people.
Oh I agree, as far as billionaires go, she is definitely one of the better ones. I too would love everyone if so many people watch my show where I just talk all day, and buy my products etc that I became a multi-billionaire with an enormous steady income.
.
TLDR: Billionaires are the ultra greedy bad guys. They do not deserve our admiration or respect. You do not get to being a multi-billionaire being a nice, kind, generous person.
.
A bit more math, if anything just for myself. Say I do very well for myself, and I do a tiny mere fraction: 1/1000th of what Oprah does. I have 2.7 million in the bank, I make 300k a year, and 200k of it is discretionary income. To give away the same percentage wise as Oprah does in terms of discretionary income, I would need to give away roughly 26,666 dollars. Of which, at least half of it I get back in tax breaks. 13.3k in total I give away, but the act of charity also makes everyone love me more, (great publicity that will allow me to make yet more money as my income is dependent on how much people like me.)
13.3k dollars when I got 2.7 million in the bank and earning 300k a year. 13.3k into 300k = 4.4% of my income. Of which I could actually argue to myself, is critical to my own continued business success. The same percents, (or less!) that Oprah gives away that does not benefit her in tax deductions.
Some billionaires are definitely better than others Oprah is definitely one of the better ones.
I argue anyone that is a multi billionaire cannot, should not, be considered a generous philanthropist giving away a mere 4.4% of their enormous income, especially when they are worth billions. Even more so when: much of their wealth/income and brand is built up on them being considered "generous," loving and kind.
She likes to buy property, lots of it. http://www.eonline.com/news/788839/oprah-winfrey-s-many-multimillion-dol...
She has a private 70 million dollar jet, that cost millions more a year in fuel, staffing and housing, etc. Because saving many millions a year simply renting a similar private jet when needed, is just not good enough for her, and god forbid if she ever had to make do with humble first class on a commercial airline with the rest of us plebs.
I saw looking at her houses online she actually is now worth 3.1 billion. 400 million more than the 2016 number. What could she possibly need another 400 million in wealth for? In a single year! Just because she possibly pays more in taxes then some other ultra greedy billionaires and gives away 4.4% (seems to be likely significantly less than that 4.4% if her wealth increased by 400 million in a little over a year.)
To me, saying a multi billionaire that still increases in overall wealth by at least 10 percent a year is generous loving person because she gives away a few piddly percents of her enormous overall wealth gain is a gross mischaracterization.
I have yet to meet a billionaire, let alone a multi billionaire that I would consider a great and kind giving person. Even Buffet and Gates that give away much greater percents of their staggering income/wealth generation, I would not consider very generous, the 99% wealth give away pledges to their foundations when they die is a small step in the right direction, but they are very aware they cannot take their billions with them to the grave.
What do you do when you have more money and wealth generation that you quite literally cannot spend your wealth fast enough even if you tried? Unless you enjoy ripping yourself off to the tune of billions of dollars a year, you instead, create a foundation that does things like try and wipe out infectious diseases in poor parts of the world. Then you can pat yourself on the back, feel good, and generate some good will towards yourself and be the popular one at the powerful, rich, and famous parties.
Such extreme wealth inequality is never a good thing unless you are part of that tiny tiny fraction of the population. ~1500 billionaires in the world, out of 7.3 billion people living on this planet. (1 in about 6 million people get to rise to that level, and a vast majority of the world population will never have a chance to get anywhere near those numbers.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LQftYK2n8o
It's all I can say.
I couldn't agree more.
Well.either she runs, and starts her campaign with a lie, or she doesn't and stays with the truth.
There isn't a middle, there is not a 'get around'. You will know the quality of your candidate the moment she nominates.
Personally, I am waiting for God to tell me I should get a job repairing septic tanks. Hope I never get THAT calling. *pinching nose shut*
I’m sure Jenny McCarthy, Deepak Choprah, Suzanne Somers, and Drs Oz and Phil will all vote for her.
They'd all vote for her and tell her god told them to tell her she should run.
I am well aware of her generosity which is a rare enough trait in politicians.
That goes for Australian pollies too. Prime minister Turnball was filmed giving a homeless guy a 5 dollar bill recently after digging it out of a wad of 50 dollar bills.He learned that sort of frugality working for Goldman Sachs.
What the hell, if she runs because she imagines god has told her, she cant be any worse than the lying professional politicians who really believe god asked them. That right Mr Pence?
This is an interesting video about the absurdity of black people believing in the biblical God character = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCZ6PRiQq_w. Maybe Oprah should watch it.
God has just told me to quit my job, and lie on the couch in my (under)pants playing games on the PS4, and eating takeaway food until he (god) lets me know where to go from there.
Maybe I just fancy not getting up at 05:20 anymore, and I just imagined the rest, but then again who am I to argue with god.....
I imagine Stephen King may well have a great vision of America's future. He would certainly be less of a nightmare than Trump.
If Oprah runs, which is doubtful, let's examine who she owes that would influence her.
Oprah doesn't owe the NRA, the Oil & Coal Industry, the Pharma companies, the Banks Insurance or Financial companies, ANYTHING.
In fact, Oprah doesn't owe anybody anything. She pays her taxes, doesn't have any obligation to any political party, hasn't sexually harassed anyone, isn't embroiled in any foreign regime's businesses, doesn't have any family members working for her.
She doesn't have any obligation to any special interest or lobby organization.
I believe Oprah would stand a chance given the reality TV show atmosphere in American politics. I don't think she would do anything evil or push the nuke button because her pride was bruised. We may end up restoring diplomatic relations with nations we really need to not be our enemies. She may be a peacemaker.