Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Memetrics
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics:
| Last | Change | |
| S&P futures | 2963 | -4.1 |
| Oil (WTI) | 34.54 | 1.19 |
| 10 year government bond yield | 0.68% | |
| 30 year fixed rate mortgage | 3.28% |
Stocks are flattish this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are up small.
Initial Jobless Claims came in at 2.4 million. which was a touch higher than expectations.
3.6 million Americans were past due on their April mortgage payment according to Black Knight Financial Services. This is the largest number since January 2015. Foreclosure starts and completions were at record lows due to government-imposed moratoriums. Miami, NYC and Las Vegas were the hardest hit cities. Note that sales in NYC are down 61%. I suspect we are going to see a mass exodus to the suburbs after this is over.
The Census Bureau estimates that almost half of all households has lost employment income during the pandemic. States that rely heaviest on tourism like Nevada and Hawaii saw close to 60%.
Existing home sales fell 18% in April, according to NAR. The median home price rose 7.4% YOY. Inventory was down 1.3% from March and down 19.7% from a year ago. “The economic lockdowns – occurring from mid-March through April in most states – have temporarily disrupted home sales,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “But the listings that are on the market are still attracting buyers and boosting home prices.”
The index of leading economic indicators came in at -4.4, better than expected, and an improvement from the March number.
Filed under: Economy, Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
This made me laugh.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sped-up-confirmation-vote-threatens-to-cut-short-richard-grenells-declassification-spree
Could the Democrats be more obvious in their fear of declassification?
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Worth a read
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This great:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/andrew-sullivan-nature-nurture-and-weight-loss.html
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I always chuckle when the Cultural Ministry attempts to hector people into finding something attractive. As if you can negotiate with a boner.
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Scales are tools of the patriarchy.
I can see a woman on a scale yelling at it to stop oppressing her.
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This is essentially what happens. It’s the rationale behind the fat acceptance movement.
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At the end of the day, it is about hectoring Getty Images
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Now that’s funny!
And transphobic!
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Pretty solid album year.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/best-albums-of-1970/#7-the-kinks-lola-versus-powerman-and-the-moneygoround-part-one-
Is it the GOAT year though?
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I’m an 80s man myself. Not that 1970 was bad (although I was 1 that year and did not appreciate classic rock at the time).
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I was four so I’m not far off from you. I’ve always thought that the ‘70’s was THE decade for rock though. Hell, my favorite genre, punk, is from the seventies.
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I would agree the 70s were the heyday of rock.
Zeppelin, Sabbath, Aerosmith
That said, rock should have died at least a decade ago. I can’t shake the idea that the next Louis Armstrong or Buddy Holly is right under our noses and we can’t see it.
But this is so strange: the musician jam sessions at the various jam bars always revolve around 70s classic rock. And these are musicians in their 20s. During a Boy Scout camping trip, the boys were listening to old AC/DC. I found it fascinating that they chose that. That would be like us choosing Benny Goodman when we were teenagers.
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That would be like us choosing Benny Goodman when we were teenagers.
That depends on if it’s ’70’s or ’80’s AC/DC!
I listed to 50’s rock as a kid because that’s what mt parents listened to. Hell, I saw Elvis in ’76. Good is good.
Hell, Sh Na Na played at Woodstock.
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Lotta “hells” in this comment!
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Back in Black. 1980.
40 years ago.
40 years from 1980: 1940.
Benny Goodman.
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I make an exception for Back in Black and consider it on par with ’70’s AC/DC. I’ll also include the song For Those About to Rock, BUT NOT THE ALBUM!
That said, plenty of young kids dig classical which can be hundreds of years old.
What do those kids listen too when the adults are not around?
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The progressive left has been arguing with biology for years now. And arguably even old-school progressives where arguing with biology in regards to what incentives human beings will ever respond to, or the belief that large scale communal “all for the common good” life could ever work for being evolved to exist and survive within small tribes.
But the folks who argue biological sex is not a thing, but instead a social construct assigned at birth, or that you can be healthy at any weight (which is really saying you can be healthy no matter what you eat, which is like saying you can be healthy no matter how much poison you consume or “healthy at two packs a day!”) — these folks are arguing against biology, and desperately want to believe–and so do–that every biological and physical law they dislike or wish were different is a social construct that can be purged from the culture with enough laws and/or shaming.
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I still think it is amazing to learn the history surrounding the food pyramid. Yes, meat is bad, but the idea you should subtitute 3 servings of rice or pasta instead. Helllo diabetes! Which, by the way is caused by carbs and not dietary fat.
When good intentions meets junk science, good intentions win every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
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I would argue both things are wrong. There is a strong cultural/commercial/governmental/educational blindness to how nutrition actually works. Or how addictive sugar actually is. People break free all the time but it’s obvious from the numbers that it’s hard and getting harder, and the presence of sugar and refined carbs in everything is bad news, generally.
Fatness also isn’t always unhealthy. There are healthy fat people, though they are in the minority. You actually have to measure visceral fat (organ fat, which isn’t visible to the naked eye–except during an autopsy) to see if they are actually healthy or not. Also blood tests can be indicative. Healthy fat people tend to eat a lot less sugar than unhealthy fat people–and in a population with only healthy fat people, the obesity rates would look more like they did in the 1920s.
But availability, addictiveness of sugar, cost of foods, cultural acceptance, poor nutrition education, bad government guidelines, bad association guidelines (such as from the American Diabetes Association amongst others), industry associations drowning folks in “sugar is good for you” and “a calorie is a calorie” “studies” . . . it ain’t just “you need to eat less”. Although that seems like an obvious solution it tends not to be on a population-wide scale. And pretty much every weight loss study bears that out.
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The real fear comes out:
“The Worst Is Yet to Come
The coronavirus and our disastrous national response to it has smashed optimists like me in the head.
By Farhad Manjoo
Opinion Columnist
…
The virus-induced recession could further destroy the news industry and dramatically reduce the number of working journalists in the country, our last defense against misinformation.”
The horror.
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I love how it never dawns on him that the Progressive karens have turned everyone off, and that 3 years of nothing but lies out of the media have made people even doubt the sports scores.
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It’s just going to happen more quickly. The dawn of the Internet and the World Wide Web spelled the doom of traditional journalism the minute someone first clicked on a hyperlink. That it has lasted this long is due primarily to sheer momentum and a great deal of nostalgia.
The model was always going to change. How was unpredictable, but the least likely outcome was dozens of fully-staffed newsrooms with journalists getting generous per diems and sustainable paychecks.
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COVID theater here:
The reopening order allows for restaurants with outdoor seating to reopen, provided tables are spaced 6 feet away, since outdoors has better airflow than indoor dining.
But the weather is scheduled to be bad, so they are erecting temporary covers on the patios. Which presumably defeats the purpose of outdoor dining, but is still allowed by the reopening order.
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https://twitter.com/rowen316/status/1262522608366600194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1262522608366600194%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dlastmovieoutpostt_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fwww.lastmovieoutpost.com2Fwith-deepest-apologies-to-art-adams2Ft_d%3DWith20Deepest20Apologies20to20Art20Adamst_t%3DWith20Deepest20Apologies20to20Art20Adamss_o%3Ddescversion%3D9e3da5ae8d7caf8389087c4c35a6ca1b
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Reminds me of the old saying “the military is designed by geniuses to be executed by idiots”
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The DC circuit court orders Judge Sullivan to respond by June 1 to Flynn’s mandamus motion.
Click to access 20-5143LDSN.pdf
Not sure if this is an ordinary, pro forma order or if it indicates that the appeals court is seriously thinking about compelling Sullivan to dismiss the charges against Flynn.
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Not the Babylon Bee
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LOL, that doesn’t surprise me one bit!
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McWing:
Not the Babylon Bee
TDS is a bigger threat to people’s health than Covid is.
I heard a doctor the other day pointing out that he has been prescribing chloroquine for various reasons for 30 years, all without any questions. Now, he said, he gets calls from pharmacists asking him to confirm that he has indeed prescribed this dangerous drug. Because Trump.
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While I realize Trump is, thus far, the pinnacle of this, there was Bush Derangement Syndrome, if you recall. And Reagan Derangement Syndrome–I remember all the “news” stories about how Reagan was going to kill us all in a nuclear war. The Day After “movie event” should have been called “Because Reagan’s President”.
Bush was in a sweet spot, of course–though he deranged the media and entertainment-types, he was beloved by neocons and the military-industrial establishment, so there were at least some people, highly placed, to defend and support–sometimes.
But this stuff is just nuts. Doctors, companies, local governments, and of course the media and “journalists”, so-called, are all just insane. IMO.
Because facts don’t seem to matter to Trump generally–although I think this is exaggeration and hyperbole, borne of his background in brand marketing (otherwise known as lying) and negotiation–everybody else has decided that facts don’t matter either.
They idea that a politician’s endorsement is more important than the data . . . it’s just mind-blowing.
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Trumps doomed in 2020 because he cratered the economy. If he hadn’t he could have gotten some mileage out of this.
https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/05/22/biden-black-radio-host-youre-considering-voting-trump-aint-black/
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Maybe but I’m still not buying it. If they were running an Obama I could see it. But they aren’t running an Obama.
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because he cratered the economy.
Again–while certainly possible–does this feel to the average Trump voter/swing voter that it was Trump’s doing? Or some combination of China and state governors and local mayors?
Just asking. Maybe he’ll get all the blame. Don’t know.
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And then there’s stuff like this:
https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/20/staunton-virginia-city-council-election-democrats/
Not saying it’s predictive of a Trump victory but it just doesn’t seem like the Democrats are firing on all cylinders right now.
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McWing:
Trumps doomed in 2020 because he cratered the economy.
Maybe, but I suspect that the more recent memory of everyone on the left working to keep the lockdown in place and prevent any economic recovery might have some influence too.
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I still come into it with the view that the fundamentals of the economy were great going into this. I think the economy rebounds this summer and shakes a lot of this off by Labor Day.
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Scott
everyone on the left working to keep the lockdown in place and prevent any economic recovery
Seriously Scott? Do any of you guys really believe “everyone” on the left wants to prevent economic recovery? Are all 40 million Americans who’ve suffered job loss and even more of us who’ve lost our businesses on the so-called right? All those people in fancy cars waiting in food lines are conservatives? Nobody I know is enjoying this loss of income or lockdown and looking at it through a political spectrum. We’ve all lost something or someone and can’t wait to get back to normal.
Are there people on both sides of the political spectrum turning this thing into a political football……………absolutely, but I’d wager my life’s income that the majority of Americans just want to get back to work, see their grandkids and other family members again and even just go to the dentist, if we still have a dentist.
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lms:
Seriously Scott? Do any of you guys really believe “everyone” on the left wants to prevent economic recovery?
No, not everyone on the left wants to prevent an economic recovery. But the vast majority of the politicians who want to continue lockdowns do seem to be on the left. And so my point was simply that, when the election occurs, it is not clear to me that the economic collapse will necessarily be associated with Trump. I think a lot of people will associate it with the Dems, and rightly so.
but I’d wager my life’s income that the majority of Americans just want to get back to work, see their grandkids and other family members again and even just go to the dentist, if we still have a dentist.
Perhaps, but if I am not mistaken, you have been a huge cheerleader for California’s policy approach, and your governor is all-in on lockdown.
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Actually, no he is not all in on lockdown. We are opening new businesses every week. I do believe he’s done a good job along with our public health department in making sure we didn’t become NY or Italy but he’s all about turning this thing around.
The one thing that I’m very disappointed in is my state’s unemployment insurance setup. So many people are not even able to access the phone system or get an answer via the website that it’s disgraceful. It’s one of the reasons so many people here are anxious to get back to work.
He’s delivered on some promises and fallen short on others but he wants things to open up as much as the next governor…………..hello, we need the tax revenue if nothing else.
Just an observation on my part regarding ATM, I think most of you guys conflate all liberals with what you see on the media, all women with what you see in the news, and all Americans who aren’t conservative enough for you as slackers who are looking for a government handout. It’s a mistake here I think and it’s one of the reasons I don’t show up very often. It seems to me you’re doing some of the same things you accuse liberals of but just in the opposite framework.
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lms:
I think most of you guys conflate all liberals with what you see on the media…
No. I just associate things that liberals, as opposed to conservatives, tend to do or say or think with liberalism. And most of the media is obviously liberal.
…all women with what you see in the news…
Absurd. You have literally never, in our entire history here, seen me associate anything with “all women”, except perhaps in an entirely joking manner.
…and all Americans who aren’t conservative enough for you as slackers who are looking for a government handout.
Nonsense. I challenge you to cite one thing I have ever said here in the last 8 years that suggests such a thing. Just one thing.
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“I think most of you guys conflate all liberals with what you see on the media”
I’m guilty of viewing PL commentators as representative when they probably aren’t.
I also think Facebook and other social media has encouraged people aligning with the extremes on everything including COVID.
“Nobody I know is enjoying this loss of income or lockdown and looking at it through a political spectrum”
Unfortunately a lot of my left friends on Facebook while not “enjoying” it exactly are using it as an example of why they were right about everything all along, starting with why capitalism is doomed and of course Orange Man Bad. I think they literally believe this wouldn’t have happened had Hillary Clinton been elected in 2016.
And of course mask shaming and arguing that any relaxing of the shelter at home rules is tantamount to advocating for killing people.
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Trump has driven Mother Jones to defend the 10th Amendment.
https://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/1263939229220044801
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This piece is… something.
A taste,
Throwing Away Four Decades of Success
They’re calling the last four decades of US foreign policy in the Middle East a success. Really.
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Neocons think America burning through blood and treasure in foreign lands for no measurable gain but moral-virtue-signaling points is AWESOME!! Why would we EVER stop?
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I get into conversations with right-wingers (and conspiracists, so they are both) that think this is all intentional, specifically on the part of the left. That they are trying to wreck the economy and all the lock downs and social distancing and misreporting is part of some grand conspiracy, and they cannot be talked out of it.
Like I know a guy who insists Joe Biden is an intentional placeholder, presumably for Clinton but possibly for Cuomo–again, all part of a grand conspiracy. The same people understand while Russia Gate was a transparent fraud but have no trouble envisioning a world in which leftist engineered a global social experiment in getting people to voluntarily surrender their freedoms in the face of an intentionally overblown pandemic threat.
I suggest it can all be explained by incompetence and fellow-traveling and internal biases and individual beliefs and goals in an unprecedented situation, and given human history that seems much more likely, but . . .
At the same time, are these folks representative of everybody on the right? Probably not. Just a particular self-selected group, much like Plumline.
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Yet more detail on Flynn:
“The Railroading of Michael Flynn
How it happened and why it matters
by Eli Lake
June 2020”
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/eli-lake/michael-flynn-gets-railroaded-by-the-fbi/
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Eli’s just writing up right wing media articles from a year ago.
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Vox figures out why American can’t have nice things – libertarianism.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/5/22/21256151/coronavirus-pandemic-american-culture-keith-humphreys
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Goddamn, libertarianism is the left’s bete noir.
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IT’S EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE!
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A lot of sturm and drang for zero recognizable candidates. This is probably about making an argument to shadow bad libertarians on YouTube.
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You know journalism is at the end of the line when the “journalists” don’t know what words mean or what facts are.
There are “libertarians” in America. There are people who call themselves libertarian that differ markedly from others who call themselves libertarian.
I can see no coherent argument that America in general is a libertarian country. If it were “too” libertarian there would be, by definition, a successful libertarian party with successful libertarian candidates–and we’d have numerous libertarian senators and congressmen and governors. And we do not appear to have any of that.
Vox. As in, apparently, “Just saying shit.”
There’s a good reason they aren’t called Inquisitio or Investigatio or Cogitare I guess.
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I wonder if this makes Biden look weak?
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/05/22/biden-okay-fine-shouldnt-cavalier-said-black-voters/
What would have been the equivalent statement on the Republican side? And would Trump have apologized?
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I’ve been following a COVID preparation blog at the fitness site I’ve been posting on for the last 7 years. Here’s the post I made today if anyone is interested.
I had my final pre-op appointment tonight at the hospital for the COVID test and a MRSA test. Funny story…………when I talked to the nurse yesterday she said my COVID test would be a throat swab rather than a nasal swab but when they did the MRSA test it was a nasal swab anyway. Actually the throat swab was worse…..LOL
Anyway, I’m all set, can’t take anything but tylenol between now and Wed, not even vitamins or supplements. If I had prescribed medicine I would be able to take some of those but luckily the only thing I take is one Tylenol PM at night………….LOL
I have the body wash and instructions to wash the sheets, my nightgown, clothes for morning of and whatever I’m bringing to the hospital. I spent some time talking to the nurse and asked her if she was afraid of catching COVID, she said she just doesn’t spend time worrying about it and does what she can to protect herself, her patients and her family and lets the chips fall where they do.
I did find out that my husband will be allowed to stay with me now in the pre-op area while we wait for surgery. That was new and we’re both really happy about that. Hope they don’t change their mind by Wednesday!
Have a great weekend everyone………..I’ll be swimming!
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Good luck lmsinca!
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A couple of interesting takes on the Circuit Court’s order for Sullivan to respond to Flynn’s petition for mandamus. Things seem to be looking good for Flynn, not so much for Sullivan.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/22/appeals-court-order-in-michael-flynn-case-bodes-well-for-him-poorly-for-judge-sullivan/
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Just an FYI for all of you. I think it’s time for me to transfer ownership of the Domain name to someone else. I’d like to do this before it’s due for renewal in September. It’s not expensive, less than $20 per year, but in order to do this I will need someone I trust implicitly as whomever it is will see my personal and banking information. When Sue passed it on to me she trusted me with her information.
Not to offend anyone here but I would prefer if that person was either Mark or Kevin. If either one of you are game for taking it on please email me at luluinca@yahoo.com and I’ll get the ball rolling. I may not get to it right away because of surgery next week but I would like to take care of it soon. If I die during surgery, you’ll all be SOL………..LOL, just kidding!
This isn’t the place for someone of my political persuasion or gender unfortunately but I gave it a try again. You’re all enjoying it so I hope you keep it going.
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OK, Lulu. But I hope you drop in often.
Well, here is a “can’t believe women EVERY time” story:
https://reason.com/2020/05/22/1m-award-for-law-professor-libeled-by-ex-girlfriends-rape-accusation/
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Thanks Mark. I look into the info at Hover and let you know the process. I appreciate it.
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Scott, my comments yesterday were in a general sense not directed at anyone in particular. I’m not going to go back and research comments though. I’ve read enough over the last few months to understand what I think is going on here. It’s your guys’ club so I can’t really object can I? It’s difficult for me to read some of the comments here to be honest so it’s probably better for me to bow out and leave you guys to it.
Politics in our country has become a nightmare and there just doesn’t seem to be a middle ground any longer and that’s really where I’m most comfortable unfortunately, albeit a bit to the left of middle. I don’t seem to fit in anywhere though, left, right or even middle. Maybe it’s because I’m just old but politics creates great anxiety in me these days. I fear for our country, and not because I distrust Trump, things aren’t much different or better on the left.
Anyway, I think you want me to debate you but that’s like walking down a dark alley for me with no flashlight…………….sorry. We never really get anywhere and it’s always just dark.
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lms:
Scott, my comments yesterday were in a general sense not directed at anyone in particular.
That doesn’t make them any more justified. No one here has ever said anything that could sensibly be construed to say or imply that “all Americans who aren’t conservative enough” are “slackers who are looking for a government handout”. Not one single one of us. The idea is absurd and, frankly, a slander.
I’m not going to go back and research comments though.
How convenient.
Anyway, I think you want me to debate you…
Nope. All I did was challenge you to you substantiate the slanderous things of which you accuse us.
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Scott, actually it’s damned inconvenient that I can’t go back and search for the comments I’m referring to. Although I did highlight one from you when you said “everyone on the left……”. It’s those kinds of comments here that put an end to my interest.
I hardly think anything I said was actually slanderous but you seem to be the other legal expert here so I’ll just say I was speaking from my impressions reading the comments here.
Anywhoo, I’m out.
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lms:
Although I did highlight one from you when you said “everyone on the left……”.
Perhaps you missed my response to that. Or didn’t bother to consider it.
It’s those kinds of comments here that put an end to my interest.
Countering McWing’s claim that Trump is bound to lose the election for having shut down the economy by pointing out that a lot of people might reasonably associate the trashed economy with Democratic policies at the state level causes you to lose interest?
I hardly think anything I said was actually slanderous but you seem to be the other legal expert…
I wasn’t speaking from a legalistic standpoint. I was simply pointing out that saying that anyone here has suggested that Americans who aren’t conservative enough are “slackers…looking for a government handout” is malicious and false.
I’ll just say I was speaking from my impressions reading the comments here.
And I’ll just say (again) that I would like to know what comments could possibly have led to such an impression, as I am not aware of any comment, ever, by any person here that could reasonably be interpreted to be saying or implying that ““all Americans who aren’t conservative enough” are “slackers who are looking for a government handout”.
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This is interesting, IMO. It’s easy to get offended and complain about being falsely painted with too broad a brush (while, ironically, doing the same!) but it seems a really common area of communication breakdown. There is clearly a threshold (crossed often in political and religious discussions, but also in sports and entertainment and, of course, between significant others) where meaning and interpretation are at odds.
So–we (and I think it’s pretty universal, although the interpreter tends never to *feel* or have any sense they are doing it) will take things–and conflate things–to mean things differently than the speaker. My sense is that there are rarely serious arguments made here that all of one group is universally this negative or positive thing. Although I (and good lord knows McWing) have frequently made sweeping generalizations about ladies, it’s not a serious argument and usually is about my wife. 😉
The same way, pretty much *everybody* will use a shorthand to refer to liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, and say things like “always” when we were are thinking of and reacting to specific events or circumstances. This is natural for a lot of reasons, but not the least of which is you can expect certain sorts of things to happen when Democrats get their ways versus with Republicans get their way, or when it’s conservatives dominating the agenda rather than liberals.
I just think when *you* are a liberal or a democrat or whatever the group is, yet your point of view or behavior isn’t consistent with the generalized “group” behavior under discussion, it seems nonsensical and absurd that anyone would say “all liberals are always” doing whatever. And then turn around and say something very similar without any sense of irony–because that’s how are brains (most of us, anyway) are wired.
We tend to have hyper-sensitivity to being wrongly placed in a group or having my groups attributes wrongly represented, and very low sensitivity to wrongly placing others in groups, or incorrectly attributing characteristics to those in groups we are not members of. Because perspective inside versus outside is always very different.
We talk about double-standards and hypocrisy in identity politics, and when it comes to minority groups demanding separate facilities where white people aren’t allowed–or the support of women’s only groups with the banning of men’s only groups, and kind of prima facie sex discrimination in that exclusion is good for one group but not another. But this is because people *inside* a group understand and believe in the good reasons for discrimination and special privileges for group identity when *they* are in that group, but cannot fathom why such advantages should accrue to members of the *bad* group. From a 20,000 foot view their behaviors look no different–racism is racism and bigotry is bigotry, no matter how you assess them.
But tribal identification often includes an intuitive understanding of the nuance of your own group and intention–so your blacks or women only groups are both moral and necessary while some white’s only or men only group is awful and bad. And not saying you are saying that, only observing that tends to be the points of view of people with strong tribal identification–tribal members perceive and internal nuance and the rightness of their cause and their deservedness of special privilege for their group, but are largely blind to those things in other groups, especially if they consider those groups the Other.
And so, it becomes easy to generalize about other tribes while being very sensitive to the nuance and differentiation in your own. Thus how we speak about other tribes–and how members of those tribes hear what we say–lead to a lot of difficulty in communicating.
But I find with people there’s a lot of undeserved presumption on every side that we’re on the same page in terms of what we mean and our and others intentions when there just isn’t.
Ever been a situation in which someone says something offensive then tries to walk it back, explaining they misspoke or the words they chose clearly did not convey their meaning–but you (or they) don’t or don’t want to accept their clarification, because “you know what they said”? I think most spouses or SOs have been in this situation at some point. *You* know what you meant but the other person doesn’t want to hear it when you try to clarify. I think a lot of communication is lot that. Or both parties just keeping talk at each other without any interest in clarification, and the argument becomes about debating misunderstandings as if they are, in fact, *understanding*–and no effort is needed to be expended on seeking meaning, as you already know what they *meant*–so it’s time to fight. Forget clarification!
I could get into how we process disagreements generally–and I mean everybody, and certainly in politics–and I think our escalation-culture around debate is largely dysfunctional. Yet difficult to avoid because for lots of folks it’s just hardwired. We get offended and when offended–we want to fight.
I’d prefer some 3rd way thinking but by definition–no way to force that into happening! 😉
All the best. I gotta go clean the house!
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https://tinyurl.com/RaimondoByGeorgeWill
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Having read that on Thursday in California, lawyers who had faced off against her in court began raising questions about the legitimacy of her testimony, and the verdicts that followed, after news reports that Antioch University had disputed her claim of receiving a bachelor’s degree from its Seattle campus, I wondered, first, how any competent lawyer failed to check Tara Reade’s background information.
I won my last civil jury trial on directed verdict because the opposing party misrepresented his degrees and certifications. Of course, that was a party witness, but it is absolutely standard practice to check background of every witness, and experts are disclosed in advance of trials so that there is plenty of time to research their credentials and previous writings and proclivities in the witness box.
It seems inconceivable to me that NO ONE investigated her credentials before being led down the garden path by her “expertise”.
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Mark, could you remind me of your email or email me so I can get started on the domain transfer?
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KW:
You may be interested in another youtube lawyer’s take on the Flynn situation.
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Thanks!
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Don’t worry guys I’m still leaving but my fighting spirit wouldn’t let Scott have the last word on this. I know he will anyway but I had to put up some sort of defense first before I leave you guys to the bubble you share here.
I quickly looked through the comments just in the last month and found a few to support my opinion and this doesn’t even touch on the language surrounding the Tara Reade comments or the #MeToo movement and how staggering some of your assumptions were regarding that.
Here is my original comment regarding the reasons I, in particular, don’t feel comfortable or welcome here, much less feel as though I might have a valuable opinion you would possibly want to hear from a liberal who doesn’t adhere to all your notions of who and what some of us are.
Just an observation on my part regarding ATM, I think most of you guys conflate all liberals with what you see on the media, all women with what you see in the news, and all Americans who aren’t conservative enough for you as slackers who are looking for a government handout. It’s a mistake here I think and it’s one of the reasons I don’t show up very often.
And here are some of the comments that indicate to me there is no way that I can rebutt all of your opinions and I doubt it’s worth the effort to try. In conjunction with Scott’s low opinion of me it seems rather pointless to stick around.
I realize these are taken out of context but it’s the best I could do on short notice. Words do matter I think and maybe I don’t always do a good job of expressing myself but I can still read.
”I love how the left particularly likes to characterize every disagreement with them, about anything, or even pointing out that certain opinions are opinions and not facts, is “anti-intellectualism” or “anti-science”.”
”While the left doesn’t like the deaths, the rest of the COVID crisis touches all of their pleasure points. They are in their element: collective sacrifice, the “we’re all in this together”mindset, getting everyone marching in the same direction, hectoring the heretics, placing blind trust in technocrats, virtue signalling, plus the fun of a freak-out. The only thing missing is 1930s poster art exhorting people to wash their hands.”
”The only thing missing is a requirement that elementary schools keep a bowl of rainbow colored condoms at the front desk.”
”The other thing is this fits neatly into the left’s “Greed vs saving lives” framing, because really why should people have to work at all to get paid?”
”People are valuable! They are entitled to a living wage for their entire lives, whether they work or not! Secondary consequences to that approach? It doesn’t matter! I’m talking about social justice! Equality! Fairness!”
”But it occurs to me the progressives and the left tend to me more utopian than utilitarian. So you’re much more likely to get an argument that “if it saves the life of one single child, it’s worth doing a trillion dollars in damage to the economy”.”
”I am absolutely convinced this panic is driven by white suburban women. These are the same broads who fall victim to every nonsensical ratings sweep scary local news story about Tide Pod challenges or some freaky drug experimentation that teens are supposedly dying from. I don’t know how these women became afraid of their own shadow but fuck me they’re exhausting.”
”One thing I do understand better now is how the Salem witch burning occurred. It’s the exact same people who are “quarantine shaming” other people on social media, with 400 years difference. Ditto “The Scarlet Letter”. Progressives would love to be able to have that level of public shaming at their disposal today.”
”Every Republican candidate since Eisenhower has been considered Literally. Hitler. by the left.”
And now I’ll bid you all adieu. Regardless of anything else I did enjoy some moments here and learned several important lessons and I wish you all well!
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This one’s mine and I’m damned proud of it.
”I am absolutely convinced this panic is driven by white suburban women. These are the same broads who fall victim to every nonsensical ratings sweep scary local news story about Tide Pod challenges or some freaky drug experimentation that teens are supposedly dying from. I don’t know how these women became afraid of their own shadow but fuck me they’re exhausting.”
A couple of things, I didn’t mention ANY political affiliation. Plus, most suburban white women are Republicans, though not necessarily Trump supporters. Nor did I assign this hysteria that these chicks have to ALL, women, just the white suburban ones. They are an exhausting Church-lady cohort who are the ones who go up to complete strangers and lecture them about some supposed safety violation. They’re the Karen’s of the world who hate Trump’s tone but freak out when black/Hispanic/asians move into the subdivision and grill weird shit in the backyard. They make they’re 9 year old wear a helmet on their bike and report mothers who make their 11 year olds walk to school instead of waiting in a miles long line of other suburban women who are also scared of their own shadow.
They’re the reason Prozac and Xanax were invented! Imagine their horror if their kid grows up and wants to be a plumber not an accountant.
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McWing, the problem is I’m a white suburban white woman and literally none of those characteristics apply to me. That’s my point actually!
It’s all about the generalizations you guys do here!
I imagine plumbers might make a bit more money than accountants……….what’s your point? Money is money and taking care of your family is the same and respect is due whatever job you have!
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It’s all about the generalizations you guys do here!
EVERYBODY makes generalizations.
… that’s a generalization, of course.
It is a very, very common conversational shorthand, used ubiquitously on the Interwebz. Even here!
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McWing, BTW, thanks for the explanation. It seems to me that while you might be tattle-telling on white suburban conservative women, you’re really just wondering what the fuck women are doing with their kids in general. I can tell you from personal experience as a white suburban woman who raised two of the same, we let our kids make their mistakes and learn from them. That might be a conservative attitude but it’s worked here with all three and so far the grandkids as well.
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lms:
Thanks for the quotes. I still fail to see how any one of those could sensibly be seen to be saying or implying that all Americans who aren’t conservative enough are “slackers who are looking for a government handout”.
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LOL Scott, how did I know you wouldn’t be impressed? I tried though.
This one fit in my narrative but I guess it doesn’t qualify for some reason for you!
”The other thing is this fits neatly into the left’s “Greed vs saving lives” framing, because really why should people have to work at all to get paid?”
Wish I had a reason to stick around but I’m just not seeing it!
FYI, I couldn’t really find any egregious quotes from you (so far) but I did wish you had a bit more respect for my opinions even if they weren’t up to your standards of dialogue………
Thanks for the responses though and hope you and your wife and girls get back together soon!
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lms:
This one fit in my narrative…
I don’t see how. It is a critique of leftist ideology and the way in which it frames certain issues. It is not an accusation that anyone, much less all Americans who aren’t conservative, is a “slacker looking for a government handout”.
In fact, ironically your narrative is an example of the very type of framing being criticized in the comment itself, and which I think is a common approach on the left. It involves conflating a disagreement over policy with an attack on the people that the policy is ostensibly aimed at helping. So, for example, opposition to lockdown policies gets framed as not caring about people dying. Or opposition to same sex marriage gets framed as hating on gays. Or opposition to abortion gets framed as hating women. Or, as we have seen, opposition to more welfare statism gets framed as calling people slackers who are looking for a government handout.
I did wish you had a bit more respect for my opinions…
That’s ironic, given that I am not the one reducing your opinions to a tired caricature. Beyond that, I don’t really know what you mean by “respect”. To me “respect” does not require me to refrain from challenging or critiquing things that you say, which is mostly what I do, and which increasingly seems to prompt you to announce your departure.
Thanks for the responses though and hope you and your wife and girls get back together soon!
Thanks. In fact we are together right now. I got back to the US last weekend and will be here through next Saturday.
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When folks say “the left” or “the right” we are always generalizing, sometimes hugely. It’s shorthand that’s an important part of make points briefly. Typically, what is meant is “Andrew Cuomo and these pundits and these folks on MSNBC and CNN and these blue checkmarks on Twitter and these Academics”–or a subset of progressives or leftists, typically subscribing to rather extreme views of leftist ideology or their own personal role in brining about a better society.
And even that is still not as specific as it could be. But it’s more of a reference to ideas commonly espoused by people ostensibly on one particular side of the ideological or partisan divide–not necessarily everybody on that side.
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I honestly don’t think any of you here know me. Sure I’m more liberal than you but I’m also all about personal responsibility (which includes wearing a mask to protect others but without shaming if you don’t) For me it’s a personal choice but I would personally rather err on the side of protecting others from me (even if I seriously doubt I’m infected) rather than take the chance of infecting anyone else.
When our son was 16 I received a call from the Riverside Police Department that he had been arrested for shoplifting………..he apparently picked up a CD that was laying on a table of shirts at the local Sears. They wanted me to come pick him up but I said I would do that when I felt like doing it. The officer called back about an hour later and asked me again when I was planning on picking him up…………..and I told him I hoped he was in handcuffs………….lol. About 2 hours later they called again and I sent Walter out there to get him (midnight by then). The cops admitted that it was a minor infraction but I made my son pay the price for being stupid.
Not really sure what my point is here but I’m not some pushover liberal who doesn’t take responsibility for working hard, minding my own business or trying to get out of working for a living.
I doubt I’m the only lefty in the USA who assumes personal responsibility for myself and family but I think most of you guys think we’re all a bunch of flakes! Not true!
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lms:
I think it is a mistake to take criticisms of “the left” in general as personal attacks on you as an individual. Certainly when I criticize the left, it is not often, if ever, with you in mind.
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Also, *everybody* engages in general touchpoint avatars (or shibboleths): the left, the right, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, progressives, “the woke”, and so on. We are talking about “types”, not everybody who may in some way cross over or exhibit some of those characteristics. Even though some people do truly believe they are, and that every Republican is a racist like some Republican they once knew that said racist things.
In general, it’s shorthand. What we mean is “people who consistently do these particular things we are referring to”. They generally tend to be progressives if they try to cancel people over having said something they personally interpret as discriminatory or trans-phobic, for example. Although not every progressive tries to cancel people they disagree with.
To caveat everything in every conversation makes every conversation go on forever.
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I honestly don’t think any of you here know me
Nobody knows anybody on the internet, and I’d go as far as to say nobody on planet earth “knows” me.
People know some parts of other people. On the Internet this is exacerbated.
Sure I’m more liberal than you but I’m also all about personal responsibility (which includes wearing a mask to protect others but without shaming if you don’t) For me it’s a personal choice but I would personally rather err on the side of protecting others from me (even if I seriously doubt I’m infected) rather than take the chance of infecting anyone else.
I do the same thing. I don’t think the masks are effective but I wear them as a form of general cultural respect: if the store I’m going into recommends it, I will wear a mask. If other people are and I’m going to be mingling with them, I do it even though I don’t consider them effective or holding up to a cost/benefit analysis (the irritation of wearing them is greater than the potential benefit, IMO).
Not really sure what my point is here but I’m not some pushover liberal who doesn’t take responsibility for working hard, minding my own business or trying to get out of working for a living.
I don’t think anyone here thinks that or has said anything that should be interpreted as saying that, IMO. The reality is most average people of certain ideological stripes share more in common than they don’t. And most principles don’t align as closely to general partisan or ideological labels as hard partisans and ideologues believe, IMO. Anyhoo, I don’t think everyone on the left is a slacker looking for a handout (and don’t believe I have ever suggested such). Typically, I address issues of incentives: if you provide money without responsibility or in a context that makes receiving the money easier than working for it, people will rationally respond to that and take the hand-out. Not liberals, not conservatives–people. People respond to incentives. So it’s worth considering and being careful what incentives a government or a company puts in place.
If you provide the capacity and incentive to virtue signal by staging a hate-crime–you’ll get more fake hate crimes (which we have, because we provide incentives to people to commit them). Not specifically any serious partisan side or ideological side, but people. Some of that stuff are probably apolitical trolls–wanting the attention more than trying to advance an ideological agenda.
But to be clear (and without complaining that my ideas have been interpreted reductively, because that is often inevitable online and is like complaining that rain makes you wet) . . . I don’t think liberals or Democrats or you are slackers looking for a handout. Or bad. Or evil. I think there are often very good reasons for liberal and progressive policies to be pushed, and I get why even stuff I strongly disagree with (such as censoring videos online or excessive lockdowns) are happening, but it’s reasonable to question the wisdom of them, IMO. And advance alternatives.
And sometimes we all get frustrated that the rest of the world doesn’t see what is obvious to us and ask: “What’s wrong with all these idiots?” I do it aplenty. But ultimately, there are reasons, often good ones, but there are reasons to discuss them in detail when it comes to enforced policy.
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Worth noting:
California Doctors Saw ‘A Year’s Worth Of Suicides’ Last Month Amid Coronavirus Lockdown
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A risk well-covered by two front-line doctors who had their videos taken down from social media repeatedly for sharing “non-approved” information. Coincidentally.
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Love the comments on this Karen post about a NYC Central Park incident.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/26/1947685/-Racist-white-woman-loses-her-dog-and-maybe-her-job-after-threatening-Black-birdwatcher-with-police#comments
The poster claimed the apology was weak but never explains what an un-weak apology would look like. To me, her arrogance is only outshined by her cruelty to the dog, but her apology seemed sincere. No one offers an answer as to what would be enough. It took 4 comments to label her as a Trump supporter.
Cause there are so many in NYC.
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My sister works in HR at Franklin Templeton and has been dealing with this since last night. I understand why, in our current culture, it feels the need to address the situation, but I find it absurd that FT has to do or say anything to anyone about this. The public vengeance culture is out of control.
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It’s wild. Did they fire her?
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I don’t think so…”administrative leave” I think basically means suspended with pay.
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I’ve been getting some interesting answers to my questions on that post. My user name is gbowden41.
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I liked this one:
I would not hesitate to consider taking a child away from a racist sociopath, if that’s your question. There are several of us here who were raised by such and carry the damage to this day.
He does indeed sound damaged!
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I would not hesitate to consider taking a child away from a racist sociopath
But he wouldn’t take the child away from a non-racist sociopath?
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Also, is he saying that having a racist parent (given that children are often at odds with their parents sensibilities over any number of things over the years) is the cause of the damage being carried, or the sociopathy? He seems to be conflating things there.
Sociopathic parents of any stripe–including super-progressive and so supporting of, say, trans-rights that the interpret a child regurgitating things the parent said as evidence their male child is a girl and needs hormones at age eight–does the damage. Being supportive of trans-rights or being racist doesn’t inflict psychological damage on people exposed to such opinions–but being the victim of a sociopathic authority figure (irrespective of the excuse) can certainly be.
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I love how he is willing to take a kid away for a thoughtcrime. Do these people even hear what they say?
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He adds “sociopath”. Actual sociopaths can be extremely abusive and destructive, racist or not.
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She was going to call the police and “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” We know how that story ends, and she very clearly did, too.
How it ends in NYC? Regarding being a Trump supporter: could be but I’m dubious. I’ve encountered (and heard of) a number of liberals and progressives and people who consider themselves culturally/superficially left do exactly this kind of stuff when offended or going super-Karen explicitly *because* their progressivism, in their mind, gives them permission to be as racist when they want when they are challenged or confronted–or feel it would be of benefit to them in some capacity. This sounds like that kind of situation.
Also she’s specifically using the term “African American”. Which, again, anybody can and does use–but it sounds much more like a self-described progressive or liberal type invoking their progressive privilege. To me.
I love the comments about “that man” — because referring to someone as “that man” is now racist.
And this (at first referring to the victim in this incident):
Uh-uh. Intelligent, and it probably shows in everything he does and says. Massively threatening to mouthbreathers and to sociopaths (and those categories only overlap partially). Especially threatening when the intelligence comes in a package that is female, or nonwhite, or both.
Underlining mine. Because this is just incomprehensibly idiotic. Female? Female? First of all, the perp was female. The guy she was yelling at was male. How does that frickin’ work?
Also, males are more threatening in almost every progressive depiction of men. And it is generally understood that males are more threatening generally–typically being bigger and stronger than women. There’s a reason the focus on domestic violence is about men abusing women, even though women also perpetrate domestic violence: because men are bigger and scarier generally.
But this person (and others like them) are SO devoted to the narrative that even on a story that would reasonably contradict this bizarre point of view . . . they still advance it.
Narrative is more important than facts!
9-1-1 =/= White Privilege Enforcement Service
In New York City. Run be Bill De Blasio–a communist, basically–in a state run by Andrew Cuomo.
No cognitive dissonance? At all?
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“How it ends in NYC?”
If you call the cops on someone, always be aware that this could be the outcome:
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1265285623851565056
See also Eric Garner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner
De Blasio and Cuomo aren’t terribly relevant to the day to day policing of the NYPD.
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De Blasio and Cuomo aren’t terribly relevant to the day to day policing of the NYPD
Why don’t they get called to account? Are do NYC cops essentially run without oversight?
See also Eric Garner.
He was selling cigarettes. I feel like being killed by the cops for the unlawful practice of individual capitalism is entirely consistent with what I’d imagine the priorities of a De Blasio police force would be like.
That being said I have no problem with calling the local suburban police here because I’ve got a pretty idea of how the department is run and what kind of folks the cops are. But some of these places . . . nah.
But I also wouldn’t call the police because someone else was telling me to stop violating ordinances I was clearly in violation of.
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“Are do NYC cops essentially run without oversight?”
They are pretty much in open revolt against De Blasio.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/482258-sergeants-union-says-nypd-is-declaring-war-on-de-blasio
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Holy crap. Glad I don’t live in NYC! For so many reasons.
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The latest – apparently trying to have her banned for life from Central Park.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/26/civic-association-calls-on-de-blasio-to-ban-central-park-karen/
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That’s what happens when you do something so egregiously stupid. Sorry, Karen.
Not that I agree with it generally but . . . you know, be smart enough to pull that kind of crap in this day and age. At the least. If you can’t be a good person at least don’t be an idiot.
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