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Post by B.E. on Jun 1, 2020 19:54:57 GMT
Great post, Kapitan. You can easily find right now new clips of protesters where white protesters are literally kneeling around their black protester comrades, begging forgiveness and apologizing.
In real life? My god... Alright, I'm not really that surprised. Just yesterday in attempting to comment on the rioting and looting, I was hit with an "who am I to say?" and shut down with "white privilege". So much for my thoughts.
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Post by kds on Jun 1, 2020 19:59:20 GMT
Kapitan,
You hit the nail squarely on the head.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jun 2, 2020 20:47:35 GMT
I'm not sure if any of you have seen the #blackoutTuesday stuff, but a lot of the people posting about it have surprised me. I'm not referring to celebrities either, but people I know personally. Not just the black box, but some have made lengthy posts about police brutality and black lives matter. Some who I know are big conservatives and probably voted for Trump. Now, I don't expect them all to swing left and vote Biden, but I wonder how many people across the country will do just that. I'll admit that I was considering voting for Trump at the beginning of the year, but the way he has handled the virus and now this, I'm firmly on the pro Biden side.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 2, 2020 23:28:49 GMT
It is hard to say. I'm pretty depressed at the choices. I cannot bring myself to vote for president Trump and I do not want to vote for former VP Biden. It is presumably going to be a close race, as most presidential elections in such an evenly divided country are, and so I don't want to risk the candidate I like less (Pres. Trump) winning; my state is purple, and so it honestly might matter.
Yet I hate this ongoing, cycle-after-cycle hostage crisis the two parties have us in, basically threatening us by saying "well you don't want HIM/HER to win, do you? Not in this, the most important election of our lives!" On one hand, they're not wrong: it does come down to that ... until it doesn't. Not until a mass of people, presumably centrists or people whose further left and further right views are combined with the civic courage to compromise, can find and vote for the right ticket embodying that game-changer. Not to find the perfect candidate, or the savior, because those things don't exist in human beings. But to find the ticket that will be willing to acknowledge that a duopoly is leading (almost inevitably) to a game-theory driven constant game of chicken, of divisiveness, and while all my life it has been figurative, currently quite literally destruction.
We must find a way to live together in peace and tolerance. TOLERANCE. Not "celebrating," as goes the current demand from the left, e.g. "celebrate my [ethnicity / sexuality / etc.]." And not the kind of falling into line or reverting to the "real American values" that conservatives tend to believe. There are too many, too different people in the country to expect there will be actual consensus on almost anything.
We MUST find people who are willing to work, not to force all of us down one of two diverging paths, but to build a political environment where we are all able to live according to our own consciences and priorities as much as we can without infringing on anyone else's.
I have no faith whatsoever in the two parties or their candidates. Not just do I have no faith they can DO that, but that they will attempt it, or even put much (if any) effort into trying to do it. I'm not sure they value it, since each party thrives most when it has a foil to demonize.
The people are the cannon fodder in all of this.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2020 9:12:15 GMT
The first thing to do, is to get rid of Trump. He is destroying America because, he only cares about one thing, Donald Trump. It is the lesser evil to vote for Biden.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 4, 2020 0:05:43 GMT
In response to the situation here, one city councilman said he is among a group of council members pursuing the dissolution of the Minneapolis police department, and another has said "I hereby declare, officially, my support for ANTIFA."
So ... uh ... yeah.
I emailed my ward's city councilman (a Democrat, as are most if not all elected officials in Minneapolis) about both and asked him directly whether he supported each of these things. I asked that he reply as concisely and directly as possible. On the latter, I clarified up-front that I know antifa isn't a formal organization and that he not avoid the question in that way. I got an auto-reply immediately that his office was flooded with calls and emails and it would likely be some time before I got a response.
Fifty-nine minutes later he replied with answer to both questions. On the former, he said he is not among those looking to disband MPD. He said that while he tries to keep an open mind, any such move would have to include a replacement that does everything MPD is tasked with doing. I read his response as very skeptical of that idea.
On the latter question, his response was even better. "No."
A quick response and common-sense replies. I'm amazed and pleased.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 6, 2020 23:43:43 GMT
Changed my mind.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jun 8, 2020 14:04:06 GMT
I saw Minneapolis has announced its plan to disband the police department. Does this have any chance or happening, or is it just one of those headlining grabbing moves that will actually not see significant change?
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 8, 2020 17:43:49 GMT
I saw Minneapolis has announced its plan to disband the police department. Does this have any chance or happening, or is it just one of those headlining grabbing moves that will actually not see significant change? To clarify what happened, 9 of 12 city council members pledged to work to disband the police (and replace it with something TBD). It wasn't any real plan or binding vote. But it was a public statement of intent that I'm sure constituents will note. It has gotten headlines worldwide, of course. I'm not great with predictions, but my impressions are:
- It's hard to imagine it truly happening. - It's not obvious it's a good idea, especially with no clear plan for some replacement entity. - It's at least partly a publicity stunt for some of them to look on top of things, "taking action," etc.
The problem is, I think a LOT of people who are using the catch phrases like "abolish the police," when asked what they mean, actually mean reform the police. Maybe even officially abolishing and replacing with what amounts to the same thing, which means it's a marketing effort, a rebranding. But most of those people don't mean abolish the police. They're being trend-hoppers, showing woke cred/allyship, and being dishonest.
However, some of them mean exactly that: no police, nothing like police. Something (vague and unspecified) TBD instead. And there is going to be some ugliness ahead when those two factions realize what the other was and wasn't on-board with.
Council member president Bender was on CNN yesterday/last night and was asked what people are to think when their houses are being broken into, who are they to call? Bender's response was a non-answer to the specific question, but rather she just said something like "it's a shame some of us have that privilege where we feel we can just call the police, because the system is working for us."
Which to my ears sounded like instead of making sure we equally and broadly share our public services across the community, nobody should have them.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 8, 2020 18:00:16 GMT
We want new jobs, more jobs, better jobs. Part of the purported purpose of the protests was beyond just George Floyd, but for improving economic conditions in the city (especially for minority groups). During the protests-turned-riots, many sympathizers talked about how buildings and property could be replaced.
OK ... but they won't be. People don't want to invest in a place that is dangerous for them to operate. When the population can't be trusted to be civil, and the city officials can't or won't choose to protect them from those uncivil rioters and arsonists, they will leave. This is a story my fellow left-leaning people have told anyone who would listen over and over, that "white flight" in the 50s, 60s, and 70s crippled urban areas by starving them of their tax bases and creating a downward spiral.
Yet now, people purportedly on the left did this to their own communities, or communities to which they say they are sympathetic. So sure, kudos for not murdering more people during those riots. But there are other forms of violence, and you just committed them on yourselves.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 13, 2020 0:48:39 GMT
I keep coming across a Joe Biden ad on YouTube that is the most baffling thing I've ever encountered. I almost feel like it must be fake, an ad placed by the Trump campaign.
It's Biden facing the camera, and he says something like, "Hi, I'm Joe Biden. And I, uh, I'd like you to ... uh, to join my campaign!" And about then comes the "Skip Ad" button and I press it every time because I neither want to see ads nor endure the agony of political commercials. But point being, they chose THAT to be what is publicly shared? Is his stammer supposed to be relatable? (I know he said he has been a lifelong stutterer after a debate earlier in the campaign.)
It's just such an awkward moment, it reminds me very much of this moment:
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 15, 2020 14:31:54 GMT
The Supreme Court this morning ruled that the 1964 civil rights legislation barring sex discrimination in employment also covers sexual orientation and gender identity (meaning employers cannot fire or otherwise discriminate against gay, lesbian, or transgender employees).
Of particular interest might be that the ruling came from the conservative court that has been decried since the vacancy that Pres. Obama tried to fill with moderate judge Merrick Garland. Instead, the vacancy remained open until Pres. Trump took office and filled it with the very conservative judge, now Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Later, Brett Kavanaugh of course was controversially brought to the court.) The common concern was that this court would attack rights held dear by liberals, such as minority, gay, and abortion rights.
Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion for this case. He was joined on it by Chief Justice Roberts as well as the four justices generally considered to be liberal (Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotamayor, Kagan). Voting against it were justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 18, 2020 14:31:47 GMT
Quick thought on the Supreme Court. Twice this week the conservative-majority Supreme Court has ruled on important cases in a way that gives liberals the outcomes they preferred: it has ruled as illegal employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and today it has disallowed the president from his stated intention to immediately end the DACA program that gave immigrant kids a temporary legal right to remain in the country (although no path to citizenship).
Six months ago, Democratic presidential candidates were publicly calling for somewhat radical measures such as court-packing plans (to add liberal justices, changing the 5-4 conservative bias).
Whether this is evidence of conservatives' long-standing complaint that most allegedly conservative judges end up voting liberal (or at least not dependably conservative) or the idealistic dream that maybe they aren't voting exclusively based on wished-for ideological outcome but on the laws that exist, I do hope people take a moment to reflect on the moment.
Regardless of the reason, it does show that while they may be nominated to rubber-stamp cases along party lines, that isn't actually what happens. Justice Gorsuch wrote the 6-3 opinion (joined by Chief Justice Roberts as well as the four liberals) on the LGBTQ rights case; Chief Justice Roberts wrote the 5-4 opinion (joined by the four liberals) on today's DACA case.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 19, 2020 12:58:05 GMT
Sen. Klobuchar announces she is removing herself from contention for Biden's VP slot.
In related news, I am announcing that I'm removing myself from consideration for dating Scarlett Johansson or Beyonce.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 19, 2020 13:09:43 GMT
Sen. Klobuchar announces she is removing herself from contention for Biden's VP slot.
In related news, I am announcing that I'm removing myself from consideration for dating Scarlett Johansson or Beyonce. I consider this Klobuchar news pretty big. I thought she has a legitimate chance at being selected by Biden. But, hey, your record is your record (not that I really know what Klobuchar's really is). I just don't think Biden wants to pick a female and/or a female of color VP candidate, but he locked himself in during the debates.
EDIT: I think Biden MIGHT WANT to choose a female VP candidate - for political purposes of course - but I think he's having a hard time finding one!
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